TV Times

TV Times

Gospel singing at its best
By Sunimalee Dias
'Caritas' an evening of inspirational music was a thrilling experience for Colombo audiences, where the top-notch artistes in the country put on a unique show last week with variations to some of the great hymns and gospel songs in aid of the St. Vincent's Home for Girls in Ratnapura.

The show compered by Sohan got the show moving with the singers likes Mariazelle, Corrine, Aubrey, Dalrene, Yasmin, Ishan, Ricky along with the band Heat. More young artistes such as Malik and Dilip along with Serala, Azlan and Annesley Malawana too joined in this effort to give the audience an entirely new experience of gospel music at its best.

The show opened with the ever favourite Latha Walpola's "Namo Mariyani" by Corrine which led on to "Put Your Hand in the Hand" and "Everything is Beautiful".

The audiences joined in with the singing and clapping to the beat of the music sung by the artistes, which was quite evident when Dalreen got the audience in full swing. The younger artistes also got the privilege of moving the crowds that thronged the Navarangahala hall to witness this special event organised by the College of World Education.

The people were certainly drawn and never had a moment to sit still with the mood of the place almost turning into a rock concert although evidently the whole show only focused on the gospel favourites.

The audience came to liveliness when the St. Vincent's Home for Girls displayed their performance in the first dance to the tune of the ABBA hit "I Have A Dream" which called for a resounding applause. The main person behind the whole show was Priyanthi Seneviratne, who brought the cause of the girl's home to the ears of the public that day in a loud and appealing way.

'Bruce Almighty' to a Sneak Peak at 2003
By Harinda Vidanage
The movie world of 2003 which was very much dominated by big names and big budget movies such as X 2 - X men united and the recently released chapter two of the Matrix trilogy was stunned with the results of a Jim Carrey movie which grossed 86 million dollars in its first four days of release which is the highest income of any comedy ever.

The comedy Bruce Almighty stars Carrey as a self-absorbed TV news reporter who, after being fired from his job, meets God (Morgan Freeman), who challenges him to make the world a better place. Once Bruce convinces himself that he's not dreaming, having a nightmare or a psychotic episode, he proceeds to utilize the infinite powers at his disposal, great and small, for his own amusement, advancement and advantage until finally he stands at a crossroads: whether or not he will become the biggest and most powerful jerk in the universe, or find a little bit of humanity in Bruce Almighty

Directed by Tom Shadyac whose 1998 hit "Patch Adams" focused on a doctor, played by Robin Williams, who cures sick kids with laughter. "Liar Liar," Shadyac's biggest hit, stars Carrey as a lawyer whose neglected son, crushed by his dad's transparent excuses for missing his 5th birthday party, magically gets his wish of having his father go a full 24 hours without telling a lie.

Moving to other movies yet to be released this it was magical year for the Marvel franchise to see so many of its comic characters dominate the movie world with the X men united grossing nearly two hundred million dollars at the box office, but they are still not finished with the silver screen it will finally be the return of Incredible Hulk. The plus factor of this film will be the featuring of state of the art graphic technology in its special effects sequences.

Eric Bana (Black Hawk Down) stars as scientist Bruce Banner, whose inner demons transform him in the aftermath of a catastrophic experiment. Academy Award' winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) portrays Betty Ross, whose scientific genius unwittingly helps unleash The Hulk; Nick Nolte (The Thin Red Line) plays Banner's brilliant father, who passes on a tragic legacy to his son; and Sam Elliott (The Contender) portrays the commander of a top-secret military research center

It will not just be the Marvel Comic franchise that will have a say in movie ratings this year, a movie that has been anticipated by many and what some critics call the pinnacle of action entertainment returns featuring the one time great action movie hero Arnold Schwarzenegger. Simply saying, The Terminator is back and that is all what can be said. The final movie of the Terminator trilogy dubbed the Rise of the Machines will be a stunner and the time line is a decade has passed since John Connor (NICK STAHL) helped prevent Judgment Day and save mankind from mass destruction.

T 3 will feature a female cyborg dubbed the ultimate killer machine which Skynet has developed steps into our time to complete the job left unfinished by her predecessor, the T-1000, this machine is as relentless as her human guise is beautiful. Now Connor's only hope for survival is the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), his mysterious former assassin. Together, they must triumph over the technologically superior T-X and forestall the looming threat of Judgment Day or face the apocalypse and the fall of civilization.

The trilogy fever will not end from T 3 though sadly the Episode three of the Star Wars series will not be released this year, The Matrix , a movie which revolutionized the movie industry with its breath taking special effects sequence will complete its trilogy with the release of two Matrix movies this year.

The episode two of Matrix titled Matrix Reloaded which is already released in mid of this year the final episode will be released towards the end of the year tilted the Matrix Revolutions. In the second chapter of the Matrix trilogy, freedom fighters Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) continue to lead the revolt against the Machine Army, unleashing their arsenal of extraordinary skills and weaponry against the systematic forces of repression and exploitation. In their quest to save the human race from extinction, all the while Neo's powers are enhanced and his ability to control the matrix will be developed.

But the Matrix team will miss one of its leading stars, as Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash early last year. Earlier there were plans of including martial arts star Jet Li in the new movies but has not materialized.

Fast Track fans will be on to a treat in June with the release of Fast and The Furious 2, The Fast and The Furious became a controversial film which tried to unveil the hidden culture of road racers. With Vin Diesel's popularity sky rocketing with the movie XXX last year this movie will also be a one to look out in the box office success reports. Another movie that will feature a different brand of Super Heroes will be the LXG or dubbed the League of Extraordinary Gentleman is another action packed special effect vortex.

City of Ghosts and The Order are two more movies to be looked into this year with some interesting settings and unique themes. Firstly in City of Ghosts Jimmy Cremming (Matt Demmon) finds himself in Bangkok after fleeing the investigation of an insurance scam in the United States. He discovers his partner and mentor Marvin (James Caan) has surfaced in Cambodia, and sets off to get his promised cut of the action. What he finds instead is a bizarre and ominous environment where cleverness is bait. The further Jimmy searches for Marvin, the deeper he plunges into torment.

The year will come to an end featuring the eternal battle but in movie lines this will be a final battle between the forces of good and evil, where early the fellowship united and the two towers shook and the return of the King will mark the end to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the phenomenal success of the movie will make it a movie for all times.

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