Call me Gekko.. Gordon Gekko!

Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps

By Naman Kapur

Oliver Stone's 1987 film "Wall Street" had taken it's viewers into an exotic world. 23 years later, Oliver Stone returns with it's sequel. Apparently this is the first ever sequel Stone has directed. First movie was a huge hit as came at time when financial news was just a news for everybody and suddenly there was this movie on banking that looked like thriller. This time there's nothing exotic about it anymore. Its based on the nightly news on unemployment corporate downsizing.

But, it is that rare sequel that took its time-23 years and not only it advances its story but also has something new to say. Stone and his sawy writers Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, have crafted a tale that takes advantage of viewers' newfound knowledge and cynicism. Stone has cast his movie well with Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin and Carey Mulligan to attract younger viewers, and Michael Douglas' return as Gekko can't help being a major lure.

The story settles quickly on young proprietary trader Jake Moore (LaBeouf), who just happens to be in love with Winnie Gekko (Mulligan), Gordon's estranged daughter. Despite Gekko's attempts to warn Wall Street of the economic downturn and stock market crash no one takes him seriously because of his early crimes. Then Gekko tries to rebuild his relationship with his daughter who always accused him for her brother's suicide. In the mean while, global economy is on the verge of disaster, Jake, a young Wall Street trader joins hands with Gekko on a two tier mission.

Can you win two Oscars playing the same role? An actor rarely gets the opportunity to revive a breakthrough role in a way that allows him to rethink the character and to reflect on where fatal flaws once lay. Douglas does this brilliantly. LaBeouf is top notch. He nicely balances his character's idealism and shrewdness. Mulligan and Brolin deliver strong supporting roles with attention-grabbing characters.

Stone has tried a different way of direction this time. His camera work can be either praised in a great manner or people might be turned off. Either ways, no one can ignore the class he has put in the movie. As stated earlier, camera work is glittering and glossy. Background score is scintillating.

To conclude, I would just say that go for it to experience Gordon Gekko after 23 years and of course the class of Stone in a movie on finance, thrill and banking and the brilliant camera-work!

Rising Son: The New Karate Kid

Jaden Smith soars in The Karate Kid.

By Krista Smith• Photograph by Art Streiber

Only 11 years old, Jaden Smith possesses genes that have positioned him for stardom. He made his film debut in the Oscar-nominated The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) as the son of the character played by his real-life father, Will Smith. His mother is the actress and singer Jada Pinkett Smith, and his nine-year-old sister, Willow, has appeared in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl and I Am Legend. This month Jaden kick-starts another reboot of The Karate Kid, the 80s franchise that made Ralph Macchio a teen heartthrob and went on to spawn a girl’s version, The Next Karate Kid (1994), featuring a then unknown Hilary Swank.

Jaden is the youngest actor to take on the strenuous title role. His character, Dre Parker, relocates with his mother, played by Taraji P. Henson, from Detroit to Beijing, where most of the Sony picture was filmed. His favorite sights? “I was working the whole time,” says Jaden. “I only got to see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.” And how was the Chinese food? “I ate burgers.” Bullies at school and a forbidden crush drive Dre to learn how to defend himself, and under the guidance of Mr. Han, a martial-arts master played by Jackie Chan, he becomes a devoted student of kung fu and triumphantly surprises everybody, including himself. “Jackie Chan is amazing,” says Jaden. “On the set, he was teaching everybody. I have been doing karate since I was five, but kung fu is way different.”

In Theaters on JUNE 11th

Lauper to Open Shelter for Gay Youth

Singer Cyndi Lauper is opening New York City's first permanent housing for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

The True Colors Residence is set to open next year in Harlem and will provide young people between 18 and 24 a place to live while helping them get back on their feet, DNAinfo reports.

“Kids are coming out in greater numbers as they see themselves accepted and represented on TV and in movies, but they’re still being kicked out of their homes or running away and living on the streets," Lauper said in a statement Tuesday.


Pop singer Cyndi Lauper, through her foundation, is building Manhattan's first permanent shelter for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. The True Colors Residence will open next year in Harlem. Here she attends the fifth annual Focus for Change benefit dinner and concert in New York on Nov. 11, 2009 with friend Rodney Chester "Alex" from LOGO's Noah's Arc.

The '80s pop singer, known for her hits "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "True Colors," will donate money for the facility through her True Colors Fund, is an honorary board member and is championing and promoting it.

There are between 15,000 and 20,000 homeless youth in New York City, according to estimates from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Roughly 3,000 to 8,000 of them are LGBT, or comprising 20 to 40 percent homeless youth in the city, the Task Force said.

The six-story building will contain 30 studio apartments, a communal space, a library and computer room. It's expected to cost roughly $11 million. Residents will sign a year-long Section 8 lease and pay rent according to their income.

Lauper has long been a supporter for gay rights. Last month, her True Colors Fund launched the Give a Damn Campaign, an initiative to spur straight support for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. The campaign will include a series of videos featuring Lauper and friends such as Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Mraz, Cynthia Nixon and Anna Paquin, Tonic reported.

The Cosby Show celebrated 25 Years since Debut

'The Huxtables Changed Not Television or Politics But the Idea of Black Family'

The Cosby Show celebrated 25 years since its debut on Sunday. In her article for The Root, senior culture writer Teresa Wiltz writes that even though the Huxtables were far from the first black family on screen, they normalized "black excellence and black achievement" for American TV viewers.










The Huxtables: (clockwise from left) (clockwise from top left) Tempestt Bledsoe as Vanessa, Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Theo, Lisa Bonet as Denise, Phylicia Rashad as Clair, Keshia Knight Pulliam as Rudy, and (center) Bill Cosby as Dr. Heathcliff 'Cliff' Huxtable.

When it came to illustrating the world of a happy, well-established, black family Bill Cosby showed — he didn't tell, Wiltz says. But along with folksy humor and colorful sweaters, the show was a platform for Cosby's particular brand of activism.

"Beneath the laughs and good times of The Cosby Show beat the heart of a propagandist," Wiltz writes. "This was the world according to Bill Cosby, where there was no room for slacking, Ebonics, baby mamas or anything else. This was activist television, agitprop theater disguised as sitcom."