What is Happening in Hindi Film Industry?

A new trend is noticeable in Bollywood as more serious and bolder films are being released in place of the trivial blockbusters. A Lot Of of these portray interesting plots, story lines and techniques being used by the movie makers. This shift can be witnessed in the newly released and upcoming Bollywood movies.

It is difficult to distinguish the popular movies from the so called art movies. Current Bollywood cinema emphasizes more on the real life and has good direction, cinematography and editing featured in these movies. The movies being made by the present day directors are affecting the tastes of the viewers and introducing them to more realistic cinema.

The story lines of many latest and upcoming Bollywood movies including 3 Idiots, Wake Up Sid and Well Done Abba are concerned with the troubles and life problems of an ordinary citizen. The rebellion of a member of the general public against social problems and terrorism has become popular as movie themes among present directors.

Another evident trend is the use of the state-of-art technology and special effects in new movies like Drona, Love Story-2050 and Krrish. Even animation films are gaining popularity and big producers like Yash Raj Films are investing money and energy in such movies.

Another interesting trend is that many producers and directors are taking up remaking of the old classic films that were extremely successful in their times. For instance, RGV ki Aag was a remake of the classic Amitabh movie Sholay and Don which is another Amitabh movie from 70s was remade with Shahrukh as the lead.

Further, the production houses are coming up with more and more movies targetted at city viewers. Such movies like Fashion, Metro, Company, Wake Up Sid and Page3 that were directed towards the city viewers have turned out to be very profitable for the producers.

Another visible trend is that a few production houses in Bollywood have been releasing many movies in the span of one year. Also interestingly, many of the films are being co-produced nowadays.

One important trend that should be mentioned here is the rise in the export of the prints of the large Bollywood productions and better response to Hindi films outside India. There are a lot of Indians who are currently residing in foreign lands and are addicted to Bollywood cinema, and it is quite likely that the English movies might find a strong contender in the Hindi movies internationally.

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Cowboys & Aliens: Western & Sci-Fi Collide

The title is a huge spoiler, which shows just how much of a plot this film has. Set in 1873, aliens want to take over Earth for its supply of gold. They swoop around in fancy alien planes blowing stuff up and abducting people to figure out the weaknesses of the human race. However, when they zoom in onArizonaand abduct half of the townsfolk, including a rich rancher's (Ford) kid, they've finally messed with the wrong guy. 

He gathers the town's cowboys and they set off to destroy the aliens and bring back the kidnapped people. Joining them on their mission is Jake (Craig), a gang leader who wakes up in the middle of the desert with absolutely no idea of who he is or how he got there. Further mystifying his situation is the presence of a huge iron wrist cuff clamped around his arm that can shoot out destructive laser beams and it's the only effective weapon against the aliens. They are also joined by Ella (Wilde), a beautiful woman who seems mightily interested in helping Jake regain his memory. 

Jake is a shoot first, think later cowboy who doesn't take orders from anyone and honestly, Daniel Craig could play this character in his sleep. He's the definition of badass! That being said, the romance subplot between Jake and Ella seems really forced. One minute he can't stand her hounding, and the next he's going wobbly at the knees.

Harrison Ford plays Woodrow, a wealthy and morally ambiguous rancher whose only son, the apple of his eye, has been abducted by aliens and he will do whatever it takes to get him back. He's a boorish no-nonsense man's man who occasionally shows an emotional depth that he buries under typical cowboy bravado.

Paul Dano as Harrison Ford's bratty, snotty, spoiled little coward of a son is a delight. He marches around arrogantly, stomping all over people while threatening them with his father's retaliation. And while he talks big, he'd be nothing without his daddy's power backing him up. A classic case of nepotism ruining a person, he is basically the most entertaining thing about the entire film despite only being on-screen for ten minutes.

Cowboys & Aliens combines the western and sci-fi genres, but this is definitely a cowboy's film with aliens in it. The role of the extraterrestrials doesn't really break any new ground in terms of originality, and the rough and ready weaponry and tactics of the cowboys are much more entertaining than that of the advanced aliens.  

There's no way this film wasn't going to be cool. It's a comic book adaptation that is executively produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by the man behind Iron Man, starring James Bond and Indiana Jones/Han Solo. And while the pacing never lets the film get boring, once it's over you can't help but dwell on how shallow the plot is. What should have been an insanely epic mash-up of two awesome genres, ends up being a pretty pile of mildly entertaining meh. 

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

The Change-Up: A Good-Natured Comedy

The Change Up is an exercise in opposites. Dave (Bateman) is an overworked lawyer and family man, while his best friend Mitch (Reynolds) is a slacker actor. While peeing in a fountain and envying each others' lives, they accidentally switch bodies and must go about as the other until they can figure out how to reverse the switch.

Ryan Reynolds should do more comedy. He's hilarious whether as Mitch who has no responsibilities and nothing expected of him or as Dave, a very successful lawyer in the middle of the most important week of his career hoping that his nincompoop best friend – now inhabiting his body – doesn't mess up his job and his already rocky marriage. His [removed]as Dave) when surveying the squalor that is Mitch's apartment is priceless; especially when he gets a look at the fridge.   

A lot of the humour comes from Mitch's ineptitude with Dave's young daughter, Cara, and his baby twins. While Dave is the image of the perfect father, Mitch hasn't the slightest clue what to do with kids, which results in some pretty hilarious hi-jinks. Mitch pours milk on the twins, leaves them unattended next to knives and electric sockets and teaches Cara to always solve her problems with violence, which manifests itself as a pretty epic judo flip in the middle of a ballet recital. Bateman does a great job portraying both characters, but it's when he goes so thoroughly against his type as man-child Mitch that he's at his funniest.  

As a rule, The Change Up isn't mean or malicious. While Mitch is rather ridiculously sexist, his behaviour is never allowed to slide. You're not laughing with the sexist jerk, you're laughing at the depth of his misogyny. In addition, Dave's wife Jamie (Mann) is portrayed in a surprisingly sympathetic manner when she could have very easily been written off as the nagging wife. Mann does a great job merging the emotional and the comedic, and she ends up being the film's heart. Jamie's married to a man who, although perfect on paper, is never satisfied. She barely sees him because he's so caught up with his work and while she knows that he loves her and that he's fully committed to the family, she doesn't feel it because he's hardly ever around.

By the end, both men have realized that neither of their lives are as perfect as they made them out to be and are fully ready get their own lives back on track again. While The Change Up is pretty formulaic (It's basically Freaky Friday for dudes) and you can tell exactly what's going to happen from a mile away, it's funny and light and never grates on.

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

Abduction: Sloppily Written & Acted Action Film

Opening shot: A car zooms down a tree lined road. A cute guy is seated on the front windshield laughing his head off, yelling at the driver to go faster. They reach the party. We get a round of fist bumps and a chorus of 'Man, you're so crazy!' followed by 'I totally am, bro!' and a whole lot of beer. Windshield guy, Nathan (Lautner), wakes up the next morning shirtless and on the lawn where his dad finds him, then takes him home and forces him to spar with him. This little scene sets the film's mood perfectly. It says, 'I am made for 15-year-old boys; I am a mash-up of everything they may find cool.'

The first thing you discover about Nathan is that he really isn't the sharpest tool in the box. He's a brown guy raised by white, blonde-haired and blue-eyed parents without ever questioning his parentage or suspecting anything. While working on a school paper with his girlfriend Karen (Collins), he discovers his picture on a missing kids' website and thus discovers that his parents aren't biologically related to him.

Before he has time to fully process this fact, a bunch of guys bust into his house, murdering his parents and forcing both, him and Karen, to flee for their lives. Hot on their heels are both the CIA and Koszlow (Nyqvist), the guy who ordered the hit on his parents. They're both after a top-secret encrypted list that Nathan has courtesy of his estranged biological father. 

Don't expect much on the acting front; at least not from Lautner and Collins. When Lautner isn't kicking ass, he's lolling around looking extremely awkward, possibly reading his lines off of a teleprompter. Nyqvist, who was so thoroughly badass in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, comes off as a rather campy caricature of a villain. 

The film suffers from an embarrassing script full of laughably bad lines, worn out clichés and huge plot holes. For example, both the villains and the CIA repeatedly intercept Nathan's calls on his mobile phone; yet the plans that he makes with his friend via the same exact mobile phone are never intercepted and allow him to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. Sigourney Weaver, playing Nathan's shrink and an undercover ex-CIA agent, is pretty much the only character with a shred of a soul. 

The only possible reason for this film's existence is that Hollywood's powers-that-be are attempting to turn TaylorLautner into a fully-fledged action hero; a teenage Jason Statham if you will. He actually doesn't do a half-bad job on those terms; he's definitely at his most animated and engaging when he's running for his life or beating the crap out of people. Either way, the only thing that Abduction has going for it is the fight scenes; and the fact remains that not even its very talented supporting cast can salvage the rest.

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

One Day: A Better Romance Than Most

You know how a few years ago, you'd be hard pressed to find a girl who hadn't seen The Notebook? Well, One Day could possibly take up that mantle, if the amount of females and young couples spotted at the cinema is any indication.

Emma (Hathaway) and Dexter (Sturgess) get to know each other on July 15th, 1988; the day of their college graduation. From that point onwards, they begin a complicated friendship spanning 20 years. One Day visits them on the same day every year as the characters grow up, grow apart, reunite and struggle with their feelings for each other.

Anne Hathaway's British accent is really distracting, which is such a shame because she does such a good job otherwise. Her charm makes you root for her character so badly. Emma needs a best friend to tell her that she deserves someone so much better than Dexter. She's talented, adorably awkward and nice. She deserves someone that will make her feel good about herself; not someone that only remembers her when he needs a person to whine to.

Emma is a classic example of a woman who has everything going for her yet is completely lacking in confidence and self-esteem, which, in effect, nullifies everything else. It's painful to see how earnest and unsure she is of herself. There comes a point when she's penned a successful children's book and is living in France with her musician boyfriend while looking like Audrey Hepburn, when you find yourself wishing the film would end right there, without any interference from Dexter, so she'd get to live the dream.

Now this isn't to say that Dexter is completely loathsome; because he isn't and this is why casting an actor as disarming as Sturgess was absolutely necessary. On paper, Dexter is not the nicest guy and he could have easily come off as completely self-absorbed and thoroughly reprehensible, yet as portrayed by Sturgess, the audience begrudgingly begins to see why Emma's unable to get over him. He's confident, charming and, unlike Emma, success comes easily to him.

The transitions between the years are handled deftly and for the most part, the actors look reasonably convincing playing a twenty-year age range. That being said, Sturgess's makeup made him completely unconvincing as a 40-year-old; instead, he looked like a twenty-something-year-old with really fake grey hair.

This is a gorgeously shot film filled with cute dresses, adorable haircuts and Parisian cafés. It ultimately works, despite some dodgy dialogue and characters, due to its thoroughly charming cast. For fans of melodramatic romances, One Day is a perfect fit. 

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

How Do You Know: Exasperatingly Boring Romantic Comedy

Softball player Lisa (Witherspoon) gets cut from theUSnational team when her coach believes her to be past her prime (read: over 30 years-old). Lisa is devastated about the sudden loss of the pain purpose to her life, and somewhat uncomfortable that her new boyfriend Matty (Wilson), a famous pitcher for the Washington Nationals, is ambivalent about monogamy and the quintessential player in every sense of the word.

One day, Lisa gets a call from George (Rudd) a business executive who took her phone number from a common friend to ask her out on a blind date. George mumbles and blunders his way through the awkward phone call, she kindly turns him down, and they each go their separate ways.

Then George finds that he's the target of a federal criminal investigation into his company, which is incidentally run by his dad Charles (Nicholson), after which he's promptly fired and left alone to deal with the inevitable disaster and quite possible jail sentence.

Bordering on a nervous breakdown, George calls Lisa up and asks her out for dinner. Lisa accepts, still overwhelmed by the sudden end to her career and in need of someone to talk to. In what could possibly be one of the most awkward scenes ever filmed, George blabbers on uncontrollably until Lisa suggests he shuts up and they eat in silence. Somehow, this long, awkward silence of a meal is supposed to be a defining moment in their burgeoning friendship, yet this is completely lost on the viewer.

This reviewer could go on with the tedious details of this monotonous film, but it's better to not bore the reader as much as the film did. The pace is so incredibly slow that you spend three quarters of the film waiting for some point to be made; and the ending is so ridiculous you can't believe you wasted precious 116 minutes.

How big stars like Witherspoon and Wilson are in this terrible film is beyond our comprehension; other than looking adorably pretty, Witherspoon adds absolutely nothing to her role. Wilson's Matty is so charming and sweet, it's hard to understand why Lisa has any trouble falling for him. If anything, both characters are so one-dimensional and cute to look at, you're pretty sure they're a match made in picture-perfect catalogue heaven.

On the other hand, Rudd's portrayal of the quirky, zany George just doesn't work here. Either Rudd is too talented a comedic actor for this film, or the director failed to harness his wit in the right direction. Somehow, Lisa is supposed to fall in love with his mumbling, neurotic, quasi-stalking self. Equally ridiculous is Nicholson's presence; either this great actor has tax problems or he was drunk throughout the film, because he adds absolutely none of his signature Nicholson charm to the film. Instead, you get an awkward Nicholson who looks as uncomfortable being in this film as this reviewer felt watching it. How Do You Know is best avoided unless you have some drying paint to watch and no other DVDs are available.

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

Skateland: 80's Coming-of-Age Drama

Skateland takes a universal story and sets it in a specific era, in this case small-townTexas in the early 80s. The local skating rink, Skateland is closing down. Its manager, 19-year-old Ritchie (Fernandez) has to figure out what he intends to do with his life, by either finding a new job or going to college to hone his writing talent. Either way, he has to start getting his life back on track so he doesn't end up like his friend Brent (Freeman), the oldest guy at the high school parties. 

Skateland's immediate enjoyment is more in its mise-en-scène than in its narrative. The clothes, the sets, the feathered hair and the soundtrack, even the red and blue palette evoke the 80s perfectly. The film is just beautiful to look at and the soundtrack goes perfectly with the visuals. We're introduced to the three main characters to the sound of Def Leppard's ‘Rock of Ages' and we find out that Ritchie's mum is having an affair while Blondie's ‘Heart of Glass' plays. It's the perfect late 70s/early 80s mix tape. Even the characters' jobs are reminiscent of the era; Ritchie works at a roller skating rink while his friend, music nerd Michelle (Greene) works at a record shop.  

Unfortunately, the same attention paid to the production values was not given to the story or acting. The plot is your run-of-the-mill tale of teen transitions to adulthood full of existential angst. However, Fernandez's Ritchie doesn't really seem to care about his future and doesn't want to bother with thinking about it despite having Brent, the eternal man-child, as an example of what he could end up becoming. Brent's life isn't going anywhere and he's reduced to boozing with high school kids while people his age have steady jobs and families. 

When Ritchie goes on about not being able to make a decision because he doesn't know what he wants, you don't believe that he's given the matter any thought in the first place. He comes across as lazy, not lost, and you never really understand why both his sister and Michelle nag him so much about his future; for some reason they care more than he does! And while his sister's attitude may be understandable (they're related and she seems like a Stepford wife-in-training), Michelle is the exact opposite of Ritchie. She's motivated, knows what she wants and will do what it takes to get there. Naturally, she gets fed up with Ritchie, but never really gives up on him. 

Skateland is a charming, beautiful film buoyed by an incredible soundtrack but held back by lacklustre performances of a potentially very likeable cast. Watch it for the visuals and the music.

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

The Trip: Delectably Funny Faux-Documentary

The Trip essentially stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as themselves. The film has main characters loosely based on the people acting them, and you will keep losing track of whether you're watching a film or a documentary. Is this real or isn't it?

Coogan is an actor who aspires to appear in mainstreamHollywoodfilms. He's carved a successful career for himself in British TV and art films, yetUSfame eludes him. His old friend Brydon is a Welsh comedian and mimic who is also moderately successful in theUK, but unlike Coogan, he is content with his lot in life. Coogan has been commissioned to review a bunch of fancy restaurants scattered aroundNorthern England, and he takes Brydon along for the week-long trip after his on-off girlfriend Mischa (Stilley) bails.

On paper, it sounds rather sparse and empty, and in a way it is; yet it's still really funny. This is a no-frills production and there's absolutely nothing fancy about the whole film; except for the food, which consists of fancy multi-course meals made by top European chefs. If you're a fellow cooking show devotee, watching snippets of the food being prepared is just as entertaining as the comedy.

Shot mostly in the countryside, the film's breathtaking scenery provides gorgeous views despite the dreary English skies. Also, while there is nothing out of the ordinary about the camera work and the editing; it works perfectly to keep the focus on the two leads. Pretty much everything in the film takes a backseat; allowing both Coogan and Brydon to shine.

Regardless of whether these two are old friends in real life or not, they definitely convey it convincingly. And while Coogan is rather blasé about their friendship and frequently gives the impression that he finds Brydon rather irritating, it's also obvious that Coogan is getting more out of the friendship and depends on it more than Brydon does. Brydon has his wife to fall back on, whereas Coogan has an ex-wife who isn't exactly his biggest fan and his relationship with his girlfriend is rather rocky. Brydon's goofy, down-to-earth persona is the perfect foil to Coogan's prima donna, and they play off of each other perfectly.

Their banter carries the whole thing. They bicker, squabble, have ABBA sing-alongs in the car and impersonate famous people. This reviewer's personal favourite was Brydon's Woody Allen impression with his hilariously accurate Al Pacino and De Niro impersonations coming in close seconds. Celeb impressions notwithstanding, the funniest parts were probably Coogan's two dream sequences, one of which stars Ben Stiller as himself.

The Trip is for fans of straight-up comedy with dark undertones, for people who don't need a lot happening on screen to hold their attention. Yes, you will be basically watching two (very funny) blokes argue for the better part of two hours; but it's so worth it.

 

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

Bridesmaids: Smart Comedy That Won't Just Appeal To Women

This is a story about two lifelong best friends Annie (Wiig) and Lillian (Rudolph) whose lives are diverging wildly. Annie is broke, miserable and single while Lillian is happily engaged. Lillian chooses Annie to be her maid of honour, which is fine until she meets Helen (Byrne), a bridesmaid who is everything that Annie isn't. She's rich, married and glamorous; and she seems to have her whole life under control.

Calling this a straight comedy is kind of misleading. Bridesmaids is wickedly funny but at its heart it's about how Annie hits rock bottom then proceeds to pick herself up again. You'll laugh a lot, but you'll also cry, cringe and occasionally scream at the characters. It's about a woman that hates herself so much and who is completely lacking in self-esteem to the point that she puts up with a man who has no respect for her and routinely kicks her out of bed. 

The only person that Annie can rely on is her best friend Lillian and that relationship becomes increasingly strained during the wedding planning due to a class clash in the form of that certain bridesmaid called Helen. These crazies provide the kind of laughs that shake up your entire body especially when they're flying to Vegas and Annie gets high on pills and liquor. This also happens to be the best use of a Britney Spears song in a movie ever. In fact, the whole soundtrack is pretty awesome and includes everyone from Fiona Apple to Hole to Blondie.

The refreshing thing about this film is that it almost completely focuses on the women. For a change, it's the men that are defined by their relationships with the women instead of the other way round. This doesn't mean that all the women are three dimensional characters, though; in fact quite a few are walking stereotypes. The two men in Annie's life are basically used as shorthand for her relationship with herself. When she's at her most self-loathing, she hooks up with Ted (Hamm), and when she feels better about herself, she hangs out with Rhodes (O'Dowd). 

This isn't like most wedding-centric chick flicks that showcase demented bridezillas. Lillian's wedding isn't the reason behind Annie, Lillian and Helen's problems, but it is the catalyst.The film doesn't deal with their problems simplistically, and this allows the viewer to see the women as something more than shallow stereotypes.

Rudolph's Lillian is absolutely brilliant. She's torn between two worlds; the solidly working class one that she grew up in and the upper class world that she's marrying into. She shows just how difficult it can be to navigate both without losing your friends and, more importantly, losing yourself. Wiig's Annie is hilarious, desperate and completely messed up. You find yourself alternately wanting to cuddle her then yell at her, which makes the part where one of her friends finally slaps some sense into her hugely cathartic. While both Wiig and Rudolph are known for their comedic talents, they fully establish themselves here as nuanced actresses; and watching their friendship fall apart on screen is rather heartbreaking.

Bridesmaids is a smart comedy for adults. It's as touching as it is funny, and will appeal to both male and female audiences. It's right up there with the best of the comedy hits that we've seen in the last few years.

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

 

How Hindi Film Industry Changed

The Hindi film industry or Bollywood's history dates back to 1913, when Dadasaheb Phalke produced and directed the silent movie Raja Harishchandra. After the roaring success of the movie, a creative bunch of people stepped into movie making in Mumbai. After the silent age came the talkies, and the very first Hindi sound film Alam Ara was released in 1931, followed by the very first Hindi colour film Kisan Kanya.

Films that came out of Bollywood during the 40s were mostly escapist fantasies, owing to the grim socio political conditions that were brought about by the nationalist movement, which coincided with World War II. However, socio political issues also found expression on the silver screen, with movies like.

Poverty in the villages of India and undying family values were depicted with unflinching realism in Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957). It was about the same period that Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor made some of their best films, and showed their wonderful directorial and acting talent in films like Pyaasa, Awara and Shree 420. Mughal-E-Azam, a 1960 classic, was an immortal film that recreated the Mughal era on the silver screen with great realism.

Music composers like OP Nayyar and SD Burman enchanted the masses with their musical compositions and artistes like Nargis, Madhubala, Dev Anand and Ashok Kumar became household names. It was during the 50s and 60s that Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar won nationwide acclaim as playback singers.

In the swinging 60s, Shammi Kapoor, the Indian Elvis Presley, mesmerized audiences with his dance and acting. The 70s was a decade for Amitabh Bachchan with his characters fighting against injustice and corruption. The action genre continued into the mid 80s, until the nationwide release of Qayamat se Qayamat Tak in 1988, and since then, romantic movies have been popular in Bollywood and can even be seen in the latest Bollywood movies. However Bollywood now has a much more advanced industry, creating movies that often get wide acclaim from throughout the world.

Rural poverty and undying family values were remarkably depicted in Mehboob Khan's Mother India, which was released in 1957. During the same time, the great actor and director Raj Kapoor directed two immortal classics - Awara and Shree 420 - and director Guru Dutt also produced and directed such wonderful films as Pyaasa. Mughal-E-Azam (1960) was an epic on celluloid that brought the Mughal era on the silver screen like never before.

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Minnesota in the Movies

Almost every city in the USA has, at some point or another, found itself the subject of Hollywood's scrutiny and featured heavily as the location for a movie or TV series. Over the years many famous landmarks, and lesser known features of the vast and varied American landscape, have became immortalized in celluloid history. Whenever a film crew rolls into town, there comes with it a sense of unbridled excitement as residents vie for the chance to become 'extras', and local architectural treasures grab a piece of the limelight.

The on-screen representation of any city, town or region can evoke a range of responses. Outsiders may well build an opinion about a place based solely on what they see in a movie, with the result that once little know communities can develop a unique sense of celebrity. Local residents, depending on the depiction of their home, may be overcome with feelings of exceptional pride, or find themselves utterly insulted by how they and their town have been represented by the script writers and directors. One only has to think about the way that many Minnesotans felt aggrieved by their depiction in the Coen Brothers' widely acclaimed movie Fargo. Many locals complained bitterly about what they considered to be the controversial use of exaggerated accents, one of the most talked-about and loved features of the movie.

But way before the Coens ever cried "camera, lights, action!", filmographers had been flocking to the Minneapolis area, inspired by the landscape and the people of this unique region. Major 1970s productions such as Airport and Slaughterhouse-Five were shot in Minnesota, but as far as the viewer is concerned could really have been filmed anywhere. Others, such as the psychological thriller You'll Like My Mother, fully utilized the distinctive landscape of the state.

In more recent year, several popular blockbusters have made good use of Minnesota's many charms, including family favorites The Mighty Ducks and Grumpy Old Men franchises. A few less memorable productions, such as Drop Dead Fred and Jingle All The Way have also been lured to the Twin Cities area with varying degrees of success. Iconic local landmarks, including St Paul's famous eatery Mickey's Dining Car, have been put to good use on occasion, appearing on the big screen a number of times.

One of Minneapolis's most celebrated sons, Prince, famously used the city as the backdrop for his hit 1984 movie Purple Rain, and mid 90s 'indie' cult classic Mallrats focused on events filmed in Eden Prairie Center, although was supposedly set in New Jersey. More recently, the Coen's turned their focus back on the area for their acclaimed film A Serious Man, and recent thrillers Phasma Ex Machina and The Inheritance were both filmed in Minnesota.

Of course for many, that ground-breaking 70s TV comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show put Minneapolis firmly on the map. In fact, the Kenwood Parkway house that featured in the show, as the location of Mary's apartment, became a major tourist attraction in its own right, continuing to attract sightseers for many years after the show ended in 1977. The city today honors the cultural impact that this comedy had in the US, in the form of a statue that depicts Mary tossing her hat into the air, as famously depicted in the show's opening credits.

Like many other parts of the country, Minneapolis has had its fair share of both great and not-so-good exposure via both the big and small screens. Film-makers continue to flock here thanks to its unique landscape, character and atmosphere, and along with them come significant financial benefits, helping local economies. And better still, we get to share our great city and state with the world!

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Do You Need to Go to Film School to Have a Career in the Film Industry?

What do Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, Spike Jonze and Steven Spielberg have in common? Answer: they didn't attend film school. El Mariachi, Rodriguez's breakout film, was shot so he could understand how, a story he describes in his book Rebel Without a Crew. Unlike a lot of careers, there is no specific qualification needed to start. Film is not medicine: there's no requirement to have a degree or a diploma in anything. A number of location managers and assistant directors in reality say they like Production Assistants who haven't been to film school, mainly because they are the ones most keen to be taught and who understand they don't know anything. Often film school graduates think they know almost everything, and that causes them to not seek advice, and that causes them to make a mess of things. The short answer is that you don't need to go to film school to get a job in the film industry. For film production, and in particular PAs, the best significant skill is an ability to get things done and get them done well. You are continually judged on your ability to help the production move forward, and whether you can solve problems. Your past experience has no bearing on that, if somebody trusts you they will choose you, end of story. Having worked on films for university with a few other students doesn't mean you are able to work on a huge professional set with lots of people. That's not to say that film school is a waste of time, far from it. Obtaining a career is all in relation to who you know and while you're at film school, you familiarize yourself with a lot of people. Some production companies have internship agreements with educational institutions too. If you can get an internship, it's a very beneficial way of heading on to a full time career. Additionally, you do get to gain knowledge of what is involved in making film, something which you would have to learn yourself otherwise. That can be a daunting task, and the structure that comes with a course can help people who are not good at self-motivated learning. So in review, film school is highly-priced and you can skip it if you want a job in the film industry. It has great networking possibilities, but so does spending those years meeting, greeting and working!

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