DeepakChopra Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Review: The Love Guru
Filed under: Comedy », New Releases », Paramount », Theatrical Reviews »
If you don't count his vocal work in the Shrek films, The Love Guru marks the return of Mike Myers to the big screen after a five-year absence. Last seen in 2003's The Cat in the Hat, Myers is now unveiling -- or is that unleashing? -- a new character, Guru Pitka, a self-help maven who brings the spiritual teachings he learned from Guru Tugginmypudha (Ben Kingsley) in India to America. Much like Austin Powers, Guru Pitka gives Myers an opportunity to play to what he thinks of as his strengths, giving us an outlandish-looking character with a thick accent and a fish-out-of-water back story. The problem is that Pitka's entirely too much like Austin Powers -- not a character, but instead a series of catchphrases, makeup appliances and goofy mannerisms that lets Meyers indulge in his penchant for sex gags, bodily-function gags and constant, self-satisfied glances at the camera.
Any time you review a film like this negatively, people ask "Why can't you just enjoy a few laughs?" And I can't give a simple answer to that, but I think it comes down to the fact that I can't just enjoy a few laughs if they're surrounded by a much larger chaotic mass of things that aren't funny. So it is with The Love Guru, as Pitka's brought to Toronto to help Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba), the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, get her broken-hearted star player Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco) over his girlfriend Prudence (Megan Good) leaving him for L.A. Kings goalie Jacques "Le Coq" Grande (Justin Timberlake) so that the Leafs might win the Stanley Cup. The occasional funny bit is drowned out by the mass and might of Meyers's self-indulgent eagerness to wallow in his obsessions -- poop, accents, naughty talk, makeup and innuendo.
Deepak Chopra Praises 'The Love Guru'
Filed under: Comedy », Celebrities and Controversy », Religious »
Mike Myers' latest, The Love Guru, has been sparking up a lot of controversy. There were (and still are) Hindu protests based on the trailers. Then, the British Film Institute declared that it wouldn't screen the film, nor would it be involved with any release of the comedy. Now, we're getting some positive press about the film -- straight from Deepak Chopra.He wrote a post in his blog called Love Guru: Hindu Lions and Hollywood Lambs? back in April, and it's now hitting the wire, since he says that the protests are unwarranted. He discusses previous films and their impacts, the importance of comedy in faith, and his own involvement with the film. "As viewers will find out when the movie is released this summer, no one is more thoroughly skewered in it than I am --- you could even say that I am made to seem preposterous. If I don't take offense and some Hindus do, that doesn't make me superior or more mature or even innately tolerant. I just know the difference between a belly laugh and a diatribe."
The Hollywood Reporter fleshes out the story, discussing Chopra's relationship with Myers -- his books reportedly helped Myers through depression and led to the new character, he got Chopra's blessing before making it, they've popped up together on Iconoclasts, and Myers wrote the forward for Why is God Laughing?
Are the Hindu protesters jumping the gun? Is Chopra being too forgiving? We'll find out soon enough -- the film opens on June 20.
Review: One - The Movie
Filed under: Documentary », New Releases », Movie Marketing »
One April morning in 2002, a Michigan lawyer awoke from a sound sleep with an idea to make a movie about the meaning of life. He had no experience making films, but that didn't stop him. He recruited his best friend and his cousin - neither of whom had any filmmaking experience either - to help him, and soon after, armed with a digital camera and a set of questions, they set out to make their documentary. They intended to make a film about people from a variety of walks of life giving their thoughts on life, death, religion, happiness, and everything in between.
Instead, they ended up somehow - they don't really seem to know exactly how, but it all started with a series of emails they sent out - with a documentary featuring some of the greatest spiritual minds in the world today, discussing topics about which they write books and speak about to vast audiences. A little film that started as a whim, somehow evolved into a documentary about life, death, and God, discussed by spiritual leaders including Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hahn, Deepak Chopra, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Father Thomas Keating, and Barbara Brodsky, a deaf woman channeling the spirit of a dead man named Aaron. One - The Movie has all the makings of a truly remarkable film - and it almost succeeds in being one.
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