To make up for "lack of strength", India opener Jemimah Rodrigues is working on increasing her bat speed, which, she hopes, will aid in hitting big shots in the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup.
India's limited overs tour of New Zealand, which starts with the first T20I on Friday will pose a challenge to Indian batsmen like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, according to former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson. He however said that if they play close to their body and avoid mistakes in the initial stages, conditions will be conducive to batting.
Winning a World title is an "obsession" for India coach Ravi Shastri, who says the upcoming six ODIs against New Zealand and South Africa could be used as a platform for his team's preparations for the global T20 championship in Australia this October.
A bevy of security and intelligence officials will accompany Bangladesh cricketers throughout the three-match T20 series in Pakistan.
Mohammed Siraj and Prithvi Shaw starred as India A beat New Zealand A by 5 wickets in the first unofficial one-day match at Lincoln on Wednesday (January 22).
Japan U-19 coach Dhugal Bedingfield said that his side are gradually improving and are aiming to upset one or two teams by the end of the ICC U-19 World Cup.
Today, Qualcomm Technologies unveiled the launch of three new mobile platforms, viz. the Snapdragon 720G, 662 and 460. They usher in fast 4G connectivity speeds, Wi-Fi 6, integrated Bluetooth 5.1 with advanced audio capabilities via the Qualcomm FastConnect 6-series subsystems. From their positioning, it seems they will be defter than the Snapdragon 660, but not […]
The post Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 Goes Official: A New Chip for the Affordable Phones appeared first on Smartprix Bytes.
Bangladesh have roped in former South Africa coach Ottis Gibson as their new bowling coach, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed on Tuesday.
New Zealand have named a strong 14-member squad to face India in the T20I series which commences from January 24.I think it’s safe to say directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are having a great year so far. Who are they, you might ask? Well, they’re the hot new filmmakers behind Bad Boys for Life, the third installment in the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence buddy cop franchise, which is exceeding all expectations both financially and critically.
The action flick raked in more than $62 million over its four-day holiday weekend, which is far greater than analysts predicted. It’s also getting the best reviews of the series, scoring a 75 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Not bad for a franchise that’s been dormant for two decades, eh? A fourth entry is already in the works too.
But you’re only as good as your last film and El Arbi and Fallah are looking to ride that wave of success to their next project. The pair have been long rumored to be in the running to direct another ancient property, Beverly Hills Cop. Jerry Bruckheimer is a producer on both franchises and according to the directors, he wants them to keep their schedule open.
The duo spoke with Collider’s Steve Weintraub about the possibility of taking on another popular series recently, saying:
Fallah: I think Jerry [Bruckheimer] asked us to be available.
El Arbi: Jerry said it in a press conference in Germany, like, ‘Yeah, sure,’ So I’m like, okay!’”
Fallah: We ready, we ready.
El Arbi: Because it is our first Hollywood movie, we gotta wait until it comes out to know what the reaction is. And I think that Jerry’s waiting just for that, God willing, it becomes a success, and then he has momentum, and then it’s jump right at it. And we met Eddie Murphy twice and he seems to like us.
Fallah: We were doing the reshoots at Tyler Perry’s studio, and we were shooting Bad Boys, and Eddie was there shooting Coming 2 America.
El Arbi: So we said, ‘We gotta make this happen, we gotta make this moment happen.’ Will, Martin, Wesley Snipes was there too, and Eddie Murphy.
Fallah: We said, ‘Come on everybody, let’s take this fucking epic picture!’
El Arbi: We said, ‘This is gonna be a great social media moment, so let’s do that.’
Their enthusiasm is palpable. Recognized primarily for independent movies up to this point, you wouldn’t know Bad Boys for Life is their first big budget studio film. After all, they were able to maintain Michael Bay’s visual continuity from the first two efforts while also putting their own stamp on the trilogy.
And dare I say, they did a better job than Bay. Bad Boys for Life is the most mature, coherent and enjoyable entry in the series. There’s even a couple of interesting twists that you wouldn’t think to find in a movie from this particular franchise. Could they bring that same balance of youthful energy and nostalgia to Beverly Hills Cop? Tonally, it’s right on par with Bad Boys, so why not? It’s just a matter of convincing Eddie Murphy. This would be the time to do it, though.
After laying low for a number of years, the actor’s had a nice little comeback with Dolemite is My Name earning high praise and a terrific return to Saturday Night Live. All the pieces seem to be lining up nicely, then, and as soon as we hear more about the much-anticipated sequel, we’ll be sure to let you know.
Image: Google
Today, Google launched three new experimental apps to help you use your phone less as part of its Digital Wellbeing initiative, including one that actually has you seal up your phone in a phone-sized paper envelope (via Android Police). It sounds similar to the pouches some artists require fans to put their phones into at concerts, except it’s something you make at home — and Google’s envelope should at least let you make a call, if you need to.
If you want to try Google’s envelope technique out for yourself, it only works with a Pixel 3A right now — and we can’t think of a reason that’s the case. If you do have a Pixel 3A, though, download the required Play Store app for the envelope, called Envelope, then print out the PDF for the...
The Origin is the GM subsidiary’s first attempt to build an fully autonomous car from the ground up
Image: Google
Today, Google launched three new experimental apps to help you use your phone less as part of its Digital Wellbeing initiative, including one that actually has you seal up your phone in a phone-sized paper envelope (via Android Police). It sounds similar to the pouches some artists require fans to put their phones into at concerts, except it’s something you make at home — and Google’s envelope should at least let you make a call, if you need to.
If you want to try Google’s envelope technique out for yourself, it only works with a Pixel 3A right now — and we can’t think of a reason that’s the case. If you do have a Pixel 3A, though, download the required Play Store app for the envelope, called Envelope, then print out the PDF for the...
The Origin is the GM subsidiary’s first attempt to build an fully autonomous car from the ground up
The Harry Potter series reigned supreme for a decade as the biggest and most popular franchise in the industry and became a global phenomenon in the process, capturing the hearts and minds of fans across the world as well as earning billions of dollars at the box office. The final installment may have been released nine years ago, but the brand still retains an enormous fanbase, so it was hardly surprising that Warner Bros. decided to announce multiple spinoffs in order to keep milking their most lucrative cash-cow.
Unfortunately, Fantastic Beasts hasn’t fared anywhere near as well as the Wizarding World’s previous adventures, with many critical of the studio’s decision to make five prequel movies based on a 128-page fictional textbook that was originally written to raise money for charity. While Newt Scamander’s first adventure scored generally positive reviews from critics and earned $814m at the box office, follow-up The Crimes of Grindelwald was a huge disappointment, becoming the first entry in the expanded Harry Potter universe to receive a widely negative reception, while also making over $160 million less than Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Fans didn’t have much praise for the second installment given the heavy reliance on exposition, unearned plot twists and the general sense that the movie was going through the motions. One of the highlights of The Crimes of Grindelwald was Jude Law’s performance as the young Albus Dumbledore, but even then the actor was only featured in a handful of scenes.
The third entry in the Fantastic Beasts series is still set to go into production this year following a delay, reportedly to rework the script following criticism of the previous movie, with Law’s Dumbledore set to feature more prominently. In a recent interview, the actor revealed his excitement at getting to play the iconic character again, and that he has spent time with J.K. Rowling in order to gain access to the future Headmaster’s deepest secrets.
“I think one of the beautiful moments in preparation was working with J.K. Rowling. I spent an afternoon when she gave me the entire history of this great character… I’m sitting there scribbling down notes and getting all of this incredible insight into this character, which I had a little opportunity to use in this current one, and next year I go ahead and we do another chapter. There’s more to come with that.”
You have to admire Law’s enthusiasm for playing the character, and hopefully he’ll be put to better use in the still-untitled third Fantastic Beasts movie. Based on The Crimes of Grindelwald, the filmmakers need to get the fans back on side, or audience goodwill for the franchise could run out long before the fourth and fifth installments even get released.
Netflix has always been both fairly selective and secretive when it comes to releasing viewing figures for their original content, which isn’t surprising because they don’t really have to. The streaming giant aren’t exactly going to let everyone know that one of their movies or TV shows has turned out to be a disappointment, but they’re also more than happy to reveal the data when they’ve produced a genuine homegrown success.
With billions being spent each year to increase their output, Netflix have already started cornering the market on awards season favorites, and are now moving heavily into the blockbuster game. David Ayer’s Bright was their first attempt at a studio-style blockbuster, but the most high-profile and expensive original project to date is without a doubt Michael Bay’s 6 Underground.
Not only did Netflix hire one of the most well-known and expensive filmmakers in Hollywood, but they also signed up one of the world’s biggest movie stars in Ryan Reynolds and handed the duo a $150 million budget to create the kind of car-crash action spectaculars that the man behind The Rock, Armageddon and Bad Boys built his entire career upon. And that’s exactly what they did, with 6 Underground drawing generally negative reviews from critics, but nonetheless finding itself incredibly popular with subscribers.
In a recent announcement of viewership data, Netflix revealed that 83 million households watched 6 Underground in the first four weeks it was available, but there’s a catch. These figures include everyone who watched at least two minutes of the movie, so even if somebody didn’t care for the first scene and then decided to watch something else, they’re still included in these numbers.
That being said, the vast majority of people would have known exactly what they were getting into when they decided to load up a Michael Bay flick, so there’s little doubt that 6 Underground will have racked up a lot of viewers that watched from start to finish, which bodes well for the already in-development sequel.
What are the greatest lengths a method actor can go to when portraying a serial killer? I’m going to go out on a limb and say it isn’t actually committing a murder. At best, that’ll get you fired from the gig, and nobody wants that. So, short of wanton violence, what are the greatest lengths a method actor can go to when portraying a serial killer? James Jude Courtney dutifully provides the answer.
The actor/stuntman lent his skills to bringing masked murderer Michael Myers back to screens in 2018’s successful slasher sequel Halloween, and one of the more disturbing facets he incorporated into his performance came from an encounter with a real-life killer.
Speaking with Vanity Fair, Courtney explained how this deeply atypical meeting came about:
“Years ago, I met a real hit man through a mutual acquaintance—he wanted his life story written, so he was living with me. He had just left a safe house and served in a penitentiary up in the Northwest. I absorbed his life just by hanging out with him every day. I took him to see a film I was in called The Hit List. We walked out of the screening, and he said to me, “Jimmy, it’s a really nice movie, but that’s not how you kill people.”
“Really?”
“I’m gonna show you how.”
“There’s a stealth efficiency to the way an actual trained killer works. Movies tend to dilute that quality with dramatic pauses and dialogue, which a true predator would never waste time doing. That efficiency is what I took to the part of Michael Myers.”
I used the word earlier, but it’s the only word adequate: disturbing. It’s also totally real. Hitmen exist and actors seeking to understand how to play hitmen exist. Nonetheless, Courtney’s admission sparks a discussion as to how far an actor should go in the pursuit of performance.
Many would feel deeply uncomfortable interacting with a known killer, let alone learning from one. I won’t pretend it sits well with me, as instinctively, it doesn’t. Yet how could an actor better understand his subject than to be taught by it firsthand? Actors portraying monsters have to understand their role, no matter how reprehensible. That’s what performance is.
Whether Courtney’s interactions muddied some kind of moral water, for once I’ll walk the line. On a less weighty note, you can judge for yourself whether it helped his performance by giving Halloween a spin. Can’t say I’ll be joining you, though.
