Entertainment
‘Everest’: A frighteningly immersive film (Movie Review)
Film: “Everest”; Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, John Hawkes, Josh Brolin, Robin Wright, Keira Knightley, Vanessa Kirby, Clive Standen; Director: Baltasar Kormakur; Rating: ***1/2
“Everest” is a man versus nature conflict, based on a true story that occurred on May 10th 1996, on Everest, the world’s highest peak.
The film is a magnificently mounted drama of survival that needs to be experienced in an IMAX theatre. It is a tale about dreams, ambition and accomplishments.
The narration begins from March 30, 1996, when Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) an entrepreneur whose company, Adventure Consultants, helped popularise mountaineering, bids farewell to his wife Caroline at a US airport.
And soon a motely group of climbers assemble in Nepal 40 days before the final act to train and acclimatise themselves before their final ascent.
The group includes; Guy Cotter (Sam Wothington), a guide and friend of Hall’s, John Krakauer (Michael Kelly) a travel and outdoors feature writer, Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), an enthusiast Texan pathologist, Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori), an experienced Japanese mountaineer who had already scaled six of the world’s seven highest peaks and Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), a mail man who narrowly failed in his previous attempts.
“It is the competition between every person (who is attempting to scale the peak) and the mountain and the last word always belongs to the mountain,” states one of the guides. This gives us a sneak preview into what to expect.
The journey that starts on an upbeat note, soon becomes unnecessarily challenging thanks to the large numbers causing delays, lack of cumulative experience, not adhering to enough precautions and the questionable quality of some of the ropes and ladders in use. The film delivers on pre-built expectations with little room for surprise.
Since the film is narrated from Rob Hall’s perspective, we see him much longer on screen. And Jason Clarke as Hall convincingly captures the anxiety of a businessman balancing excellent customer service and rigorous safety measures. Being responsible, conscientious and something of a control freak, he is the kind of person you’d put your trust in when heading to one of the most dangerous places on earth.
But it is when Scott Fisher (Jake Gyllenhaal) the other expert guide and Hall’s competitor very bashfully says, “It is not the altitude, but it’s the attitude that matters,” that you realise would bring him in direct conflict with Hall. You expect some fireworks or clash of interests, but the duo soon sign a peace treaty. Yet, the underlying tension still prevails.
Among the adventurers’ it is Josh Brolin and John Hawkes who get prominence over the rest. And at the base camp it is Emily Watson who plays Helen, the coordinator and “mother at the camp.”
In a smaller but significant roles, we have Keira Knightley as Rob’s pregnant wife and Robin Wright who plays Beck’s wife. They add the emotional baggage to the already heavily laden film.
What keeps you hooked is cinematographer Salvatore Totino’s brilliant camera work. With unique camera angles he magnificently captures the various locales like; The Lukla Airport, Namche Bazar, The Tengboche Monastery, The Climbers Memorial at Thok La, The Base camp and the entire route.
And what elevates the viewing experience is the haunting background score, the 3D effects and the sound design which captures the sound of nature at its best.
Overall, “Everest” is a frighteningly immersive film that transports you to the peak and leaves you stranded there, hours after you have left the auditorium.
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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