Harry Potter stops Unstoppable in its tracks as it holds onto the UK box office crown

UK box office top ten and analysis for the weekend of Friday 26th - Sunday 28th November 2010.

The UK box office is once again dominated by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 as it easily retains its grip of the chart in first place with £8.3m. Having banked in excess of £33m in just over a week, The Deathly Hallows has overtaken Shrek Forever After to become the fourth highest grossing film of 2010 and could put up a strong challenge against Toy Story 3 for top spot by the time it finishes its run.

Unlike Harry Potter, the rest of the films in the top ten weren't so safe with five new releases debuting in the chart this week. Pick of the bunch is the Tony Scott / Denzel Washington action thriller Unstoppable, which leads the way in second place with £1.7m, while crime drama London Boulevard pulls in just a fraction of that figure but its £577k return is enough claim third. Elsewhere George Clooney thriller The American takes fifth position, with The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest and Machete landing in seventh and tenth respectively.

Turning to the familiar faces, road movie comedy Due Date falls two places to fourth and CG-animated comedy Despicable Me finally drops out of the top three in its seventh weekend, slipping three spots to sixth. Also down three is Jackass 3D in eighth, while sci-fi thriller Skyline suffers the steepest decline as it plunges five places to ninth.

Number one this time last year: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Pos.	Film	Weekend Gross	Week	Total UK Gross
1	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1	£8,344,776	2	£33,257,880
2	Unstoppable	£1,714,871	1	£1,714,871
3	London Boulevard	£577,224	1	£577,224
4	Due Date	£560,179	4	£9,208,287
5	The American	£411,707	1	£411,707
6	Despicable Me	£241,944	7	£19,394,633
7	The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest	£219,259	1	£219,259
8	Jackass 3D	£119,369	4	£5,437,656
9	Skyline	£92,931	3	£2,645,267
10	Machete	£90,423	1	£90,423

Incoming...

With Harry Potter settling for a 2D release and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader yet to hit screens for another week, DreamWorks will look to capture some of the lucrative 3D market this coming weekend with animated superhero comedy Megamind (cert. PG), which hits screens on Friday.

Also released are a duo of British efforts: comedy The Be All and End All (cert. 15) [review] and alien invasion road movie Monsters (cert. 12A) [review], along with the Finnish fantasy Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (cert. 15) and horseracing drama Secretariat (cert. U).

U.K. Box Office Archive

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BFI to distribute funding to UK filmmakers

Back in July the government announced that as part of its cost-cutting measures it would be closing the UK Film Council, the body set up by Labour in 2000 to help develop and promote British film. The news naturally sent shockwaves through the industry, leading Hollywood bigwigs including Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg to voice their concerns over the abolition of the Council, which has recently helped to finance projects such as Adulthood (2008), Bright Star (2009), In The Loop (2009), Man on Wire (2008) and Nowhere Boy (2009), not to mention a reported £1m investment in the upcoming Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady.

In response to concerns, culture minister Ed Vaizey announced yesterday that the British Film Institute would be taking on the majority of the UK Film Council's responsibilities including the distribution of funding, with £18m available for new projects in 2011 and a promise from the government of an increase in lottery funding to £40m by year by 2014. Meanwhile Film London will be tasked with attracting outside investment, which may have been made easier by reassurances from the government that there are no plans to scrap the tax credit scheme.

Speaking on the BFI's increased responsibilities, Vaizey said that the organisation would need to "change fundamentally... to realise an exciting vision of a coherent, joined-up film industry". Furthermore he announced the creation of Creative England, which would incorporate the eight regional screen agencies, along with a dedicated ministerial film forum.

So does this show the government's commitment to the UK film industry? Perhaps things will become a little clearer when more detailed plans are unveiled in the new year.

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R.I.P. Irvin Kershner (1923-2010)

Following on from the sad news of comedy legend Leslie Nielsen's passing comes word that Irvin Kershner has died at his home in Los Angeles, aged 87. The American filmmaker - best known for directing the all-time classic Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, was born Philadelphia in 1923 and after serving in World War II he began his career teaching photography at USC School of Cinematic Arts while studying film under montage artist Slavko Vorkapi.

Kershner made his feature film debut with the crime film Stakeout on Dope Street (1958) and honed his skills directing television shows such as The Rebel (1959), Philip Marlowe (1959) and Peyton Place (1964). Through-out the 60s and 70s Kersh collaborated with the likes of Sean Connery, Faye Dunaway, Richard Harris, Tommy Lee Jones, George C. Scott, Robert Shaw and Barbra Streisand with credits including The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964), A Fine Madness (1966) and Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), along with the critically acclaimed TV movie Raid on Entebbe (1977).

Linking up with Star Wars creator George Lucas, Kershner delivered one of the greatest cinematic experiences of all-time in 1980 with The Empire Strikes Back, which is regarded by many as the highlight of the epic saga. Kersh went on to direct twice just more, reuniting with Sean Connery for the 1983 Bond remake Never Say Never Again and taking over the reigns from Paul Verhoeven for Robocop 2 (1990), his legacy having been firmly established.

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Thoughts on... Machete (2010)

Machete, 2010.

Directed by Ethan Maniquis and Robert Rodriguez.
Starring Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin, Steven Seagal, Don Johnson and Tom Savini.


SYNOPSIS:

An ex-Federale is out for revenge after he is set up, double-crossed and left for dead by a corrupt senator. They call him Machete...


Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis’s latest cinematic offering opened this past weekend in UK cinemas. The story follows a former Mexican Federale named Machete (Danny Trejo) hiding in Texas after a Mexican drug lord killed his family and tried to kill him. Whilst he tries to make an honest living he is hired to kill Senator John McLoughlin (Robert De Niro), but is set up. As almost everyone in Texas looks for Machete he has to battle corrupt politicians and businessmen, vigilantes patrolling the US/Mexican border and immigration officers as well as bedding any women that come within thirty feet of him.

Hollywood supporting role regular Danny Trejo is mean and ruthless as the story’s hero Machete, but does look a little past his best when running across roof tops and being blown out of exploding houses and cars. However, the role does seem made for him. The supporting cast of De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Johnson, Cheech Marin, Lindsay Lohan and Steven Seagal, despite the last of those not looking or sounding like a Mexican drug lord except for his bad fake tan, offer strong support of the leading man who is usually on the fringes.

Machete has obvious undertones of a political statement as it caricatures US politicians, immigration officers, border vigilantes and citizens, to a degree, as well as Mexican immigrants and drug lords. However, the serious statements are a little lost beneath huge explosions, sex with girls a fraction of Machete’s age and an extremely tongue-in-cheek story filled with knife wielding and rolling heads. At one point a naked woman pulls a mobile phone from the only place you could hide it without any pockets and in another machete abseils out of a hospital window using someone’s intestines. The dialogue is so on the nose that every five minutes one character or another will talk for a few minutes to explain their story, someone else’s or fill in any story gaps before the blood bath continues.

If you like chopper motorbikes with machine guns strapped to the front, inexplicable female nudity and lines like, ‘Machete don’t text’ then this film could be for you. The gore is full on, the violence extreme and the leading character devoid of any regret. It goes without saying that the lead character has earned his name, Machete, for his use of a massive blade. The story gets dafter as the film goes on before culminating in a massive shout out.

Machete makes a bold statement through a stupid story with over the top action, dialogue, blood and plot points. It may have been the worst film I’ve seen in a long time, but I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Just don’t expect anything with too much integrity. It’s shamelessly over the top and works because of it.

D.J. Haza

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R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen (1926-2010)

Veteran actor Leslie Nielsen passed away yesterday November 28th in a hospital in Florida after suffering complications from a bout of pneumonia, aged 84. Born in Saskatchewan, Canada in 1926, Nielsen began his career in the entertainment industry as a radio disc jockey before gaining a scholarship at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. After attending the Actors Studio Nielsen made his television debut alongside Charlton Heston in an episode of Studio One (1948), and went on to star in a range of TV productions before making his theatrical debut in the musical The Vagabond King (1956).

Nielsen's performance earned him a role in the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet (1956), the success of which opened the doors to further film and television roles with credits including Hot Summer Night (1957), Tammy and the Bachelor (1957), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958-1961), The Swamp Fox (1959-1961), The New Breed (1961), The Bold Ones: The Protectors (1969) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). After appearing in the David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker comedy Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) in an uncredited cameo, Nielsen's career received a major boost when he was cast in the classic spoof Airplane! (1980), with his deadpan delivery and comic talents opening the doors to a career in comedy.

Nielsen was cast as Detective Frank Drebin in the parody series Police Squad! (1982) and starred in its three spin-off features, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988), The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994). He continued to thrive in the genre, appearing in efforts such as Repossessed (1990), Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), Spy Hard (1996), Wrongfully Accused (1998), Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006), along with family features such as Mr. Magoo (1997) and Santa Who? (2000). Nielsen's latest release was the 2009 parody Stan Helsing (2009), while he had recently completed voice work on the animated comedy The Waterman Movie, set for release in 2011.

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Movies... For Free! Sex Madness (1938)

Showcasing classic movies that have fallen out of copyright and are available freely from the public domain...


Sex Madness, 1938.

Directed by Dwain Esper.
Starring Vivian McGill, Rose Tapley, Al Rigeli, Stanley Barton and Linda Lee Hill.

After re-releasing the anti-drugs morality piece Tell Your Children to the exploitation circuit in 1936 under the more lurid moniker Reefer Madness, filmmaker Dwain Esper followed this up with Sex Madness, an 'educational' melodrama that managed to get around the strict Hollywood Production Code by claiming to warn against the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. It was initially released as Human Wreckage and later reissued under the names They Must Be Told! and Trial Marriage, with distributors were reportedly offput by the use of the word 'sex' in the title, although it has also been claimed that the changes were a way of having audiences unwittingly paying to see the same film again.

Sex Madness centres on young beauty queen Millicent (Vivian McGill) who dreams of becoming famous and ends up working at a seedy burlesque club in New York City. Naturally, engaging in unhealthy doses of wild orgies, pre-marital sex and lesbianism soon catches up with Millicent, who contracts syphilis and - after returning home to her childhood sweetheart - begins to realise the consequences of her whoring ways.


Embed courtesy of Internet Archive.

Related:

Movies... For Free! Reefer Madness (1936)

Click here to view all entries in our Movies... For Free! collection.

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Thoughts on... Date Night (2010)

Date Night, 2010.

Directed by Shawn Levy.
Starring Steve Carell, Tina Fey, James Franco, Mila Kunis, Common, Mark Wahlberg, Ray Liotta, Mark Ruffalo, Taraji P. Henson and William Fichtner.


SYNOPSIS:

A case of mistaken identity turns a married couple's attempt at a romantic evening into an unexpected adventure.


Life, for most of us, boils down to monotonous repetition. It’s broadly predictable, with the odd insignificant surprise. And Date Night, starring the comedy talents of Tina Fey and Steve Carell, is a routine rom-com affair, in more ways than one. It’s about the universal desire to shatter the same old everyday habits once in a while with some glamour and risk, and it’s a standard action packed tale of spiralling events, misunderstood circumstances and hilarious antics. Like life it does feature the odd surprise, in the form of cameos dotted throughout that are often scene-stealing turns, but the outcome is never much in doubt and the route is familiar.

Indeed critical opinion of Date Night following its release earlier this year was fairly unanimous. It’s an average film, neither good nor bad but “pretty good”. Most reviews inevitably focus on the central pairing of Fey and Carell, so crucial to the success of the movie. Most verdicts declare Date Night to be an adequate vehicle for their talents, with pleasing performances from both, but certainly not their best. I would certainly agree with the assessment of the leads’ performances and add my voice to the chorus praising (or denouncing?) Date Night as a pretty good film. However like most reviewers I was caught off guard by some brilliant cameos that overshadow the stars at times and generally I enjoyed Date Night considerably more than the usual “pretty good” film.

What was the reason for this I wonder? Well perhaps it was largely down to the fact I’m a sucker for sentiment. Whilst Carell is undoubtedly better working with comedic material, he’s proved he can handle the action in films like Get Smart and more importantly the emotional side of things by giving his characters bags of appeal as well as humour, for example in The 40 Year Old Virgin. Here he does a more than passable job as the well meaning everyman. Fey too proves she is comfortable with the serious stuff as well as proving more adept in the funnier moments. It was easy to buy into the dying relationship scenario and the basic premise set up by a cameo from Mark Ruffalo; that marriage can descend into two people that are “really excellent roommates”. It tugged at the heartstrings to see two people so comfortable with each other, so suited and so close, growing tired of each other’s company simply from over exposure and the onset of tedium. The story keeps prodding at your emotions and stirring them into life, in that instantly recognisable rom-com manner, as the thrills and spills reignite the couple’s buried love for one another. Crucially though this is confidently executed romantic comedy based on real-life, largely free of sick inducing soppiness and lame gags and stuffed with quality.

There is a danger of the film losing sight of its focus at times though. The description of the film called it an “Action/Adventure, Comedy, Thriller” and this might suggest an identity crisis. Indeed during a key action set piece, a car chase with a slick new Audi, the comedy is at its weakest at the expense of some ridiculous and not hugely exciting thrills. This is not to say there is not some enjoyment to be found in the action segments of the film, but the average excitement of these scenes is ultimately what ensures the labels of mediocre and average. The comedy has some excellent moments, and is consistently good throughout with some likeable running gags. I particularly liked the recurring theme of outrage that the Fosters (Fey and Carell) would have the audacity and cheek to take someone else’s table reservation, as they explain to various people the crimes and horrors heaped upon them since.

And those cameos of course, from James Franco and Mila Kunis as a wonderfully bickering criminal couple that simultaneously mirrored the Fosters and were opposite to them. From Mark Wahlberg, in a bare-chested performance that first alerted the world to his hidden comedy talents and William Fichtner as a detestable caricature of corruption. These performances inject life into the film and stop it going stale. Not that there is ever any real danger of it doing so; the runtime is blissfully snappy and the leads are always likeable, if not always powerfully magnetic. Of course you could want more from a film, but perhaps Date Night’s message and execution is best summed up by the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. The Fosters undoubtedly need each other and you might find yourself needing a pick-me-up like Date Night on a dreary drizzle sodden winter’s day.

Liam Trim (follow me on Twitter)

Movie Review Archive

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Cult Cinema: Deep Red (1975)

Deep Red a.k.a. The Hatchet Murders (Italian: Profondo Rosso), 1975.

Directed by Dario Argento.
Starring David Hemmings, Gabriele Lavia, Daria Nicolodi, Macha Meril, Glauco Mauri and Clara Calamai.


SYNOPSIS:

A music teacher investigates a series of brutal murders by a mysterious, hatchet-wielding psychopath.


After making his name domestically with the “animal trilogy” of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), The Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972), Italian horror maestro Dario Argento shifted gears for the period comedy The Five Days (1973) before returning to the giallo for his fifth feature Deep Red (1975). Proving to be his international breakthrough film, Deep Red is regarded by many fans as the highlight of Argento’s illustrious career and is often cited as the best giallo ever made.

With numerous versions of the film in existence fans in the UK are finally set to enjoy an uncut release courtesy of Arrow Video, with a two-disc DVD featuring a 100-minute theatrical cut and 121-minute Director’s Cut (both of which benefit from a crisp, restored transfer). The set is also packed with special features including an introduction by composer Claudio Simonetti and commentary from Argento expert Thomas Rostock, along with three featurettes, two trailers, a fold-out poster and exclusive collector’s booklet.

A violent and stylish murder mystery, Deep Red stars David Hemmings (Barbarella) as Marcus Daly, an English pianist making his living in Italy as a music teacher. After witnessing a brutal attack on a psychic woman (Macha Meril), Marcus rushes to her apartment but arrives too late to save her life. Joining forces with local news reporter Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi, the director’s future partner and mother to Asia Argento), Marcus sets out to investigate the slaying with the body count increasing as his obsession grows.

While it follows a rather standard format, Deep Red is an unnerving and suspenseful thriller which perfectly captures Argento’s visual style of storytelling, adopting bizarre camera angles, fluid movement and inventive use of depth of field combined with a striking colour palette and expert lighting. The cinematography is matched by a superb soundtrack by Italian prog-rock band Goblin that really adds to the film, while the grisly and prolonged death sequences are meticulously executed and particularly brutal. Although the film has its flaws (the acting was never likely to trouble the Academy and the narrative includes its fair share of plot holes), it’s easy to see why Deep Red proved such an influential entry in the horror genre and the film certainly worthy of its status as a fully-fledged masterpiece of the giallo.

Deep Red is released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 13th 2010.

Gary Collinson

Movie Review Archive

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Australian horror The Reef set for a UK release this January

After a successful premiere at the Film4 FrightFest All-Nighter this past Halloween (where it was favourably compared to Steven Spielberg's classic monster movie Jaws), Australian survival-horror The Reef hits UK shores this coming January.

Written and directed by Andrew Traucki (Black Water), The Reef sees four friends heading to the Great Barrier Reef for the holiday of a lifetime only to see it turn into a nightmare as their vessel capsizes and plunges its human cargo into the depths of the ocean. With the nearest land 10 miles away the friends are faced with a life or death decision: should they stay put and pray for rescue or should they take their life into their own hands and make a desperate break for safety? However, they soon realise that's just the beginning of their problems with the realisation that they are being stalked by a deadly great white shark.


The Reef stars Damien Walshe-Howling (Ned Kelly), Zoe Naylor (McLeod's Daughters), Gyton Grantley (Beneath Hill 60), Adrienne Pickering (Knowing) and Kieran Darcy-Smith (The Cave), and arrives DVD on January 24th, 2011.

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For the Love of Trailers - The Young-Dumb-And-In-Love Edition

What to look forward to (or not) as Louise-Afzal Faerkel casts her eye over the trailers for upcoming releases Blue Valentine, Restless and Brighton Rock...

BLUE VALENTINE

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in an indie flick about a young couple. If I had thought of it myself, I would give myself a congratulatory pad on the back for bringing together two of the best American actors under 30 of today. But before I expect too much and proceed to babbling on about the admiration I hold for the pair, I will comment on the trailer.

It starts out with black video over dialogue. Gosling asks Williams about her hidden talents: a charming and intriguing start, overshadowed by a multitude of titlecards announcing what various festivals the film has competed in. A standard thing for any distribution company to do, but due the simplicity of the rest of the trailer, it gets in the way. A simple black screen would have done wonders for it.

Cut to the couple standing outside a shop, Gosling holding a ukulele. Cute. Heart-warming. How could you not fall in love them both, as they start singing and dancing to each other?

The trailer then continues into scene grabs of the couple at different stages in their relationship. The singing by the male lead continues under these images, which make for a very different and underrated editing style. The viewer has the freedom to think of their own storyline due to the lack of dialogue, thus enticing and spell-binding the viewer.

Though the trailer may seem goofy and silly, a sense of foreboding danger comes across too. There is a feeling of something dark and maybe grim underlying in the story, making it quite original.

The trailer is in fact a succession of shots of the two characters laughing, kissing, crying, holding heads in hands. Be that as it may, the fact that there are only two people in the entire trailer is interesting and it works. It gives the audience the opportunity to concentrate on the storyline and the actors, drawing focus away from any production value the film may have.

It is very exciting indeed, but could possibly be boring and even pretentious.
It will either be a success or a series of talking heads.


RESTLESS

Guy draws a body outline of himself lying on the floor. Emo much? Or genuinely hurting?

This is how the trailer to Restless begins, immediately catching the viewer’s attention. It then proceeds into introducing its characters in a linear narrative with lots of appropriate fades between scenes.

Unlike most trailers, I found myself struggling to understand and identify with the characters. I hated being in that position because it was hard work. Trailers can be challenging in their editing, their content, etc. But ideally, you kind of just want to sit there and enjoy what is being played for you. This was not the case here.

“Pleasure is all yours I am sure” male lead Enoch (Henry Hopper) says – okay, Mr Smarty-pants. I still have faith in you, because I have a feeling I am watching an interesting and complex subject matter. I will also give you the benefit of the doubt as Gus van Sant is a master in handling delicate subjects. I have faith he will do good here. I’ll keep watching.

The young lad has an invisible friend called Hiroshi. Okay.

I am really trying to get into the mood because I am genuinely interested in this boy and his impending relationship with Annabelle (Mia Wasikowska). I can put myself into the imaginary friend thing, but when he turns out to be a ghost, I am having a hard time understand if we’re in reality, non-reality or Enoch’s genuinely bonkers. Time and space is undefined and the trailer is not very inviting, just “telling”. Not showing.

Surprising as it may seem, after Hiroshi actually spoke, I could relax, because this his introduction somehow put the pieces together. My curiosity was increased and I could watch and enjoy.

The climax comes not in the final montage so much as just the scene where Enoch confronts the doctor. From there on, it’s a very steady trailer, kept up by the soundtrack and soundbites. That scene is the ultimate confession of lover and what the audience has been waiting for.

I learned to enjoy the characters and I am sure they will be interesting to watch in the film. But I am unsure whether all the trouble I went through to understand the characters was worth it within the trailer itself?

I am not sure it was. It was not challenging in its edit or layout, just difficult, so I have my reservations about that.


BRIGHTON ROCK

Brighton Rock is the much anticipated adaptation of the Graham Greene novel of the same name, which deals with the relationship between young and innocent Rose (Andrea Riseborough) and slick crook Pinkie (Sam Riley). It is a story of first love. But the trailer is confusing in its introduction of the plot and dilemma of the two characters.

The film deals with the complex nature of how to create a balance between two such completely different lives as Rose’s and Pinkie’s. The story, as it is, is simple enough to relate to. Obviously, not all of us lead the characters’ lives, but we can relate to the relationship on some level. It’s a modern fairytale, with traditional twists and turns, it would seem. However, the dark and foreboding atmosphere in the trailer underlines the feeling that there is more at stake than we are directly told.

Nevertheless it is confusing at first about what the film is about. The scene on the pier, where we first are introduced to Rose, makes no sense out of the context of the film. I had to rewind three times in order to understand what was going on. Only once you have passed the hurdle of the first 40 seconds of the trailer can you fully start to understand what the movie deals with. Despite this, it looks to be a good piece of solid British drama in the most traditional sense.

All of this is summed up until the last line is delivered.

I would have preferred to see a different scene from the trailer to create the ultimate culmination. Pinkie’s line “You’re good, I am bad. We belong together” sums up whole film (as far as I can tell from the trailer). Simple but efficient. That should have been the last scene of the trailer. The actual last line (“[I am not scared] when I am with you”) is very close to borderline cheesy.

Somehow though, it avoids it. The setting on the cliff, Pinkie having Rose in chokehold, steers clear of the Twilight-esque-gaze-in-the-eyes-of-the-lover during delivery. This is why it is a great sentence in context, but not a strong one to end on.


Louise-Afzal Faerkel

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The Man and His Dream: A Francis Ford Coppola Profile (Part 4)

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola in the fourth of a five-part feature... read parts one, two and three.

“[Preston Tucker] developed plans for a car way ahead of its time in terms of engineering; yet the auto industry at large stubbornly resisted his innovative ideas,” remarked moviemaker Francis Ford Coppola who wanted to do a musical on the life and times of the post-World War II maverick car designer with Leonard Bernstein composing the music. The project was stalled with the financial collapse of Coppola’s studio. “I thought it was the best project Francis had ever been involved with,” stated filmmaker George Lucas (American Graffiti). “No studio in town would touch it; they all said it was too expensive. They all wanted $15 million Three Men and a Baby [1987] movies or Crocodile Dundee, Part 73 sequels.” Lucas agreed to provide the funding for the $24 million budget which allowed filming to commence on Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), but with some changes to the story. “Francis can get so esoteric it can be hard for an audience to relate to him,” observed the creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movie franchises. “He needs someone to hold him back. With The Godfather [1972], it was Mario Puzo; with Tucker, it was me.” George Lucas added, “I wanted to make it an uplifting experience that showed some of the problems in corporate America, and Francis didn’t resist.”

Coppola’s lack of creative resistance was not due to having a mutually shared vision with Lucas. “I’d lost some of my confidence,” confessed the director. “I knew George had a marketing sense of what the people might want. He wanted to candy-apple it up a bit, make it like a Disney film. He was at the height of his success, and I was at the height of my failure.” Midway through the production Paramount Pictues agreed to cover most of the costs for the picture which stars Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Martin Landau (Ed Wood), Joan Allen (Manhunter), Frederic Forrest (The Two Jakes), Elias Koteas (The Thin Red Line), Christian Slater (Heathers), Nina Siemaszko (Jakob the Liar), Dean Stockwell (Blue Velvet), Lloyd Bridges (Airplane!) and Peter Donat (The Game). Grossing $20 million domestically, Tucker: The Man and His Dream received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Martin Landau), Best Art Direction & Set Decoration and Best Costume Design; it also contended for Best Supporting Actor (Martin Landau) at the Golden Globes and was lauded with the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design.

Collaborating with filmmakers Woody Allen (Annie Hall) and Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull), Francis Ford Coppola contributed one of the three stories featured in the movie anthology New York Stories (1989). Co-writing with his daughter Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation), Coppola directed the segment titled Life without Zoë about a wealthy and mature twelve year old girl (Heather McComb) who attempts to reconcile her divorced parents (Giancarlo Giannini and Talia Shire). The title character is loosely based on Sofia Coppola and described by her father as being “like one of those rich kids you see in New York who have their own credit cards and have lunch at the Russian Tea Room.” The picture which features the screen debut of Adrian Brody (The Pianist) was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Produced on a budget of $15 million, New York Stories earned $11 million domestically.

“The thing that is different about The Godfather: Part III [1990] is that Michael is different,” said Francis Ford Coppola who returned to the Mafia saga once again. “I wanted him to be a man who was older and concerned with redemption. Michael Corleone realized that he had paid very dearly for being a cold-blooded murderer and was now a man who wanted to make his peace [with God].” Al Pacino (Serpico) was reluctant to reprise his signature role. “I didn’t know if I could be Michael again,” confided Pacino. “Seventeen years had gone by; a lot had happened. Michael is not the most pleasant of characters.” Seeking to legitimize his business dealings, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) becomes the target of an assassination attempt. “I worked out a concept,” explained Francis Ford Coppola. “Then I met Mario in Reno and [we] talked it through.” Key to the storyline of the third installment is the short reign and the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I in 1978 and the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in 1982.

A major rewrite resulted from a salary dispute with actor Robert Duvall (Something to Talk About) whose character of Tom Hagen was to be the pivotal figure in the tale. “The character he portrayed so subtly and vividly had such a place in those two pictures,” marvelled Al Pacino who missed working with his Oscar-winning co-star. To compensate for the absence of Duvall, a new role was created with George Hamilton playing B.J. Harrison, the lawyer who represents Michael Corleone. More casting problems followed for the production. Julia Roberts was originally cast as Mary Corleone (Michael’s daughter), however, the actress dropped out because of scheduling conflicts; Winona Ryder (Reality Bites) was hired in her place but after shooting three movies back to back she left the project because of exhaustion. To solve the situation, a controversial and much criticized choice was made by the director. “There is no way to predict what kind of performance Francis Ford Coppola might have obtained from Winona Ryder,” remarked film critic Roger Ebert. “But I think Sofia Coppola brings a quality of her own to Mary Corleone. A certain up-front vulnerability and simplicity that I think are appropriate and right for the role.” Coppola was unapologetic about his casting decision and fumed that movie reviewers were “using [my] daughter to attack me.”

“Having your back to the wall can make you do some great things that you otherwise wouldn’t have done,” stated Francis Ford Coppola who was still rewriting the script with Mario Puzo when principle photography commenced in November of 1989. “I would have enjoyed working on [the movie] more, but at the same time I felt it had taken on a life of its own.” Shot over a period of one hundred and twenty days, the picture which stars Diane Keaton (Reds), Talia Shire (Kiss the Bride), Andy Garcia (The Untouchables), Eli Wallach (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), Joe Mantegna (Searching for Bobby Fischer) and Bridget Fonda (City Hall) was originally going to be called The Death of Michael Corleone as it was intended to be the epilogue to the series; the title was nixed by Paramount Picture executives. At the Oscars, the movie franchise became the first trilogy to have all three parts nominated for Best Picture; The Godfather: Part III also contended for Best Supporting Actor (Andy Garcia), Best Art Direction & Set Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Editing and Best Original Song. The film, which was made for $54 million and earned $137 worldwide, was nominated at the Golden Globes for Best Director, Best Picture – Drama, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Actor – Drama (Al Pacino), Best Supporting Actor (Andy Garcia) and Best Screenplay. The Directors Guild of America handed out a nomination to Francis Ford Coppola while Sofia Coppola won Razzie Awards for Worst New Star and Worst Supporting Actress.

The classic Gothic horror tale Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) was to be a TV movie helmed by Michael Apted (Nell) but the project became a theatrical release when Winona Ryder showed the script to Coppola who agreed to direct, with Apted staying on as an executive producer. A young English woman (Winona Ryder) needs protection from the seductive and deadly advances of Dracula (Gary Oldman) who believes her to be the reincarnation of his dead wife. During preproduction, Coppola came up with the idea that in the presence of a vampire the laws of physics are defied, allowing shadows to act independently and rats to run along a ceiling upside down. Auditioning for the role of the bloodsucking count were Andy Garcia, Armand Assante (American Gangster), Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro) and Viggo Mortensen (The Road); the part went to British performer Gary Oldman (Romeo is Bleeding).

Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which features Anthony Hopkins (Magic), Keanu Reeves (The Matrix), Richard E. Grant (Gosford Park), Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride), Bill Campbell (Ghost Town), Sadie Frost (Empire State), Tom Waits (Mystery Men) and Monica Bellucci (Irreversible), was dubbed by journalists as the “The Bonfire of the Vampires” in reference to the decibel surrounding Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990). Empire film critic Tom Hibbert was in agreement with his press colleagues. “Has a film ever promised so much yet delivered so little?” asked the film critic in his review. “There was so much potential, yet when it came down to it, Coppola made his Dracula too old to be menacing, and gave Keanu Reeves a part and took out all of the action. So all we’re left with is an overly-long bloated adaptation, instead of what might have been a gothic masterpiece.” Richard Corliss of Time magazine was of a different opinion. “Coppola brings the old spook story alive,” wrote Corliss. “Everyone knows that Dracula has a heart; Coppola knows that it is more than an organ to drive a stake into. To the director, the count is a restless spirit who has been condemned for too many years to interment in cruddy movies. This luscious film restores the creature’s nobility and gives him peace.”

Made on a budget of $40 million, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a commercial hit which grossed $216 million worldwide and saved Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios from bankruptcy; it spawned a board game, a pinball game, a video game and a four-issue comic book adaptation with a hundred collectible cards. The Academy Awards presented the Gothic vampire story the Oscars for Best Costume Design, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Makeup along with a nomination for Best Art Direction & Set Decoration. At the BAFTAs, the picture contended for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, Best Production Design and Best Special Effects; while the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films lauded it with Saturn Awards for Best Actor (Gary Oldman), Best Costumes, Best Director, Best Horror Film, and Best Writing as well as nominations for Best Actress (Winona Ryder), Best Makeup, Best Music, Best Special Effects and Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins).

Tom Hanks was Francis Ford Coppola’s first choice to play the title role in Jack (1996) because of his youth-trapped-in-an-adult-body performance in Big (1998); however, it became Robin Williams’ (Patch Adams) responsibility to portray a fifth grader inflicted with a rare aging disorder (based on a real condition called Werner Syndrome) that causes him to have the appearance of a forty year old man. Cast in the $45 million comedy-drama that earned $59 million domestic box office receipts are Diane Lane (The Perfect Storm), Brian Kerwin (Hard Promises), Jennifer Lopez (The Cell), Bill Cosby (Mother, Jugs & Speed), Fran Drescher (The Beautician and the Beast), Adam Zolotin (Zerophilia) and Todd Bosley (Little Giants). Clint Morris of Moviehole wrote, “Williams at his versatile best.” Judith Egerton remarked in her Courier-Journal movie review, “It seems unlikely that a Francis Ford Coppola movie starring the outrageous, hyperkinetic Robin Williams could be bland, but Jack is.” The Kid’s Choice Awards nominated Robin Williams for the Blimp Award for Favourite Movie Actor, and Adam Zolotin contended for Best Young Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture at the Young Artist Awards.

In The Rainmaker (1997), Matt Damon (Invictus) plays recent law school graduate Rudy Baylor who struggling to find work, legally prosecutes a prestigious law firm representing a corrupt insurance company. Author John Grisham, who penned the novel which Francis Ford Coppola cinematically adapted, actively sued insurance companies for a decade while a pursuing a career as a lawyer. Taking into account all his stories which have made it onto the big screen, Grisham proudly declared, “To me it is the best adaptation of any of them.” Starring in the legal thriller that was made on a production budget of $40 million are Roy Scheider (Jaws), Danny DeVito (Romancing the Stone), Claire Danes (Stardust), Jon Voight (Midnight Cowboy), Mary Kay Place (It’s Complicated), Dean Stockwell, Teresa Wright (Shadow of a Doubt), Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Mickey Rourke (Sin City), Andrew Shue (Gracie) and Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon). Jack Mathews of the Los Angeles Times, wrote, “Coppola has infused The Rainmaker with enough humour, character, honest emotion and storytelling style to make it one of the year’s most entertaining movies.” Cynthia Fuchs of Philadelphia City Paper was less impressed in her review which observed, “What’s missing is Coppola’s daring imagination and visual flair.” Grossing $46 million domestically, the picture received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor (Jon Voight), and competed at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards for Favourite Actor – Drama (Matt Damon), Favourite Supporting Actor – Drama (Danny DeVito), and Favourite Supporting Actress – Drama (Claire Danes). London Critics Circle Film Awards nominated Matt Damon for the ALFS Award for Actor of the Year and the screenplay was presented with a USC Scripter Award nomination.

Francis Ford Coppola was recruited to reedit the science fiction movie Supernova (2000) directed by Walter Hill (Red Heat) and featuring the acting talents of James Spader (Stargate), Angela Bassett (Strange Days), Robert Forester (Jackie Brown), Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba), Peter Facinelli (Can’t Hardly Wait) and Robin Tunney (Vertical Limit). Unfortunately, Coppola could not save the troubled production which grossed $15 million worldwide and cost $49 million to make. It would not be until seven years later that Coppola would return behind the camera to produce his own sci-fi tale set in the period prior to World War II.

Continue to part five.

For more on Francis Ford Coppola and his body of work visit the online home of American Zoetrope.

Movies... For Free! Dementia 13 (1963)

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

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Family Guy: It's a Trap poster giveaway - NOW CLOSED

The Griffin family return to their version of a galaxy far, far away when the third installment of Seth MacFarlane's uncensored Star Wars satire hits DVD and Blu-ray this December. Following on from 2005's Family Guy: Blue Harvest and 2009's Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Dark Side, the trilogy is complete with Family Guy: It's a Trap, an outrageous retelling of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

In the final chapter of the hilarious spoof trilogy, Luke Skywalker (Chris) and Princess Leia (Lois) travel to Tatooine to free Han Solo (Peter) from the clutches of the dreaded gangster Jabba the Hutt (Joe). Once reunited, the Rebels team up with a tribe of Ewoks to battle the Emperor (Carter Pewterschmidt) and the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader (Stewie). Family Guy: It's a Trap also features cameo voice spots from Carrie Fisher and Adam West, along with Patrick Stewart and Michael Dorn who reprise their roles from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Family Guy: It's a Trap trailer...


To celebrate the release of Family Guy: It's a Trap, we're giving away an exclusive promotional poster to one lucky reader. To be in with a shout of bagging the prize all you have to do is drop us an email with your name and contact details before the closing date on Sunday December 5th at 5pm GMT. The winner will then be picked at random and the giveaway is open to UK residents only.

This competition is now closed. Congratulations to Aaron Metcalfe, the lucky winner!

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Family Guy: It's a Trap is released on December 27th 2010.

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Experience the world of Tron: Legacy at London's Southbank

To promote the release of Tron: Legacy, from this Friday (26th November) London's Southbank will become a spectacular digital universe as Disney and HP ePrint technology join forces to bring the world of Tron: Legacy to the Queen Elizabeth Hall in advance of the film's European premiere on December 5th.

The "HP ePrint Tron Legacy Experience" will take over the Southbank for a week, utilising groundbreaking new technology to enable fans to explore a real-life version of the Tron universe. The range of free activities includes a spectacular daily light show that will see the exterior walls of the Queen Elizabeth Hall become animated and appear to be alive, along with a reconstruction of Flynn's Arcade, the portal to travel from the real world to the digital, featuring videogames, Tron: Legacy material and a replica of the Light Cycle.

Tron: Legacy is of course the sequel to the 1982 cult classic Tron and stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Michael Sheen. The film is set to be released in the UK on December 17th, while the "HP ePrint Tron Legacy Experience" runs from November 26th to December 2nd between 1pm and 9pm each day.

For more information head over to the official site or subscribe to the Twitter feed.

Read our thoughts on Tron Night, the special 25-minute preview of Tron: Legacy that took place in October.

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R.I.P. Ingrid Pitt (1937-2010)

Horror icon Ingrid Pitt had passed away today aged 73 after collapsing in London last week. Born Ingoushka Petrov in Poland in 1937, Pitt was imprisoned in a concentration camp during World War II and began her acting career on stage in East Germany in the 1950s. She made her screen debut with a minor role in the 1965 classic Doctor Zhivago and went on to star alongside Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton in Where Eagles Dare (1968) before gaining cult status for her work in The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Countess Dracula (1971) for Hammer Films Productions.

Other roles in the 1970s included a part in the horror anthology The House That Dripped Blood (1971) and a small role in the British horror classic The Wicker Man (1973). Pitt spent much of the next decade alternating between television shows and movies with credits including Doctor Who (1972, 1984) and Who Dares Wins (1982). In later years she also enjoyed a successful writing career while her final role came in 2008, starring alongside Tom Savini in the fantasy horror Sea of Dust.

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A record breaking opening for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the UK box office

UK box office top ten and analysis for the weekend of Friday 19th - Sunday 21st November 2010.

The seventh installment in the Harry Potter franchise jumps straight into the record books as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 takes first place at the UK box office with a magical three-day haul of £18.32m, eclipsing the previous record of £15.38m set by Quantum of Solace in 2008. Naturally such a phenomenal return had severe implications for the other films on release, with Deathly Hallows' haul accounting for 83% of the combined box office gross of the top ten.

After spending the past two weeks at the top of the chart Todd Phillips road-movie comedy Due Date slips to second place, adding another £1.2m to push its total gross north of £8m, while animated hit Despicable Me holds firm in third with just over £19m after six weeks on screens. Alien invasion flick Skyline slips two to fourth with Jackass 3D dropping one place to round out the top five.

Bruce Willis action ensemble Red remains stationary in sixth for the third consecutive week, while animated family adventure Alpha and Omega continues to climb the chart despite horrendous reviews and finds itself finishing in seventh place (an impressive feat considering it was hovering in 13th just two weeks ago). Elsewhere the only other new release in the chart is the Hindu romantic drama Guzaarish, which banks £171k from a limited run of just 52 sites and takes eighth place ahead of David Fincher's The Social Network and Mike Leigh's Another Year in ninth and tenth respectively.

Number one this time last year: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Pos.	Film	Weekend Gross	Week	Total UK Gross
1	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1	£18,319,721	1	£18,319,721
2	Due Date	£1,218,115	3	£8,023,491
3	Despicable Me	£648,479	6	£19,066,830
4	Skyline	£513,338	2	£2,332,170
5	Jackass 3D	£349,096	3	£5,068,164
6	Red	£222,059	5	£6,840,646
7	Alpha and Omega	£192,823	5	£2,873,122
8	Guzaarish	£171,027	1	£171,027
9	The Social Network	£170,846	6	£10,178,808
10	Another Year	£161,966	3	£1,274,817

Incoming...

This Wednesday sees the release of the latest collaboration between director Tony Scott and star Denzel Washington, Unstoppable (cert. 12A), which also stars Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson. Action fans can also look forward to the release of Machete (cert. 18), based upon Robert Rodriguez's fake Grindhouse trailer and co-directed by Ethan Maniquis, which hits screens this coming Friday.

Meanwhile alternatives include George Clooney thriller The American (cert. 15), crime drama London Boulevard (cert. 18) featuring Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley and Ray Winstone, and the final installment in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (cert. 15), all of which hit screens on Friday.

U.K. Box Office Archive

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UK release info for Brit thriller Cuckoo

Friday December 17th sees the theatrical release of Cuckoo, a new independent British thriller from writer-director Richard Bracewell, whose 2006 debut feature The Gigolos recently topped the Sunday Telegraph's list of 'The Most Underrated Films of All Time'.

Described as a "thriller about sound and lies", Cuckoo stars Laura Fraser (A Knight's Tale) as Polly, a research student who begins to hear mysterious noises around her apartment. Unable to distinguish between reality and imagination, Polly turns to the only people she can trust - her jealous sister Jimi and her boss Professor Julius Greengrass, but the Professor has dark intentions: he wants Polly and he'll do anything to get her.

Joining Fraser in the cast are Richard E. Grant (Withnail & I) as the Professor and Antonia Bernath (St. Trinian's) as Jimi, along with Tamsin Greig (Tamara Drewe) and Adam Fenton, a.k.a. multi-platinum drum & bass producer 'Adam F'.

Cuckoo trailer:


Cuckoo will also be released on DVD on 28th February 2011.

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Thoughts on... Jackass 3D (2010)

Jackass 3D, 2010.

Directed by Jeff Tremaine.
Starring Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Steve-O, Jason 'Wee Man' Acuña, Preston Lacy, Chris Pontius and Ehren McGhehey.


SYNOPSIS:

The Jackass crew return for the third installment of their TV show spin-off.


Here’s how I expected Jackass 3D to play out:

Annoying American Moron 1: You ready for this man?
Annoying American Moron 2: Yeah dude, ready as I’ll ever be.
Annoying American Moron 1: Ok man brace yourself.
Annoying American Moron 2: Oh Christ dude wait up...
Annoying American Moron 1: 1, 2...here it comes man...3

(Some form of speeding projectile crashes into Moron 2’s private parts)

Annoying American Moron 2: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Annoying American Moron 1: Bulls-eye man!
Dimwit Onlookers: Hahahahahahahaha awesome!

(Close-up of throbbing impact area, rendered an unappealing, dangling reality by the magic of 3D)

Repeat scene to fill film.

This still isn’t a million miles from several scenes in Jackass 3D. Needless to say their painful, sickening stunts are more inventive and impressive than my example, but imagine my surprise when I didn’t find the American morons annoying. Imagine my even greater surprise when I left the cinema thinking of Jackass 3D as the finest example of 3D technology I am yet to see and a film that gets back to the exciting core of the genuine movie experience. My previous experience of the Jackass franchise had me fearing a series of painful experiments on the man vegetables, but this turned out to be so much more than that.

Firstly then the use of 3D. Jackass 3D’s title sequence is nothing less than a visual spectacular that leaves other films I have seen through the Elton John style magic shades in the dust. Avatar resembled a video game most of the time for all the ranting and raving about the uniqueness of the experience, and for me there was miniscule wow factor in watching a poorly conceived game I couldn’t even play. Similarly Alice in Wonderland was an arty, surreal cartoon and Toy Story 3, despite its brilliance in other areas, an animation. There’s still a feel of artificial computer generation to the wonderfully distinctive action sequences.

In Jackass however there’s no sense of fakery or techno tweaking to the visuals; just silly, outlandish, dangerous, exciting stunts, performed by real life humans, in exquisite, vivid detail in front of you. The title sequence is full of colourful and crazy costumes and sets. Best of all it’s a slow motion compilation of a series of outrageous set pieces that brilliantly use 3D. A ceiling fan is decimated, smashed to smithereens by the head of a flying moron. Paint balls fly out of the screen at you. It’s all obviously purely performed and crafted to justify the 3D of the title, but a film like Jackass, with no conventional requirements like plot, gets away with it. And the reason it all looks so spectacular is because someone could afford to just play with 3D for once, rather than make an ordinary film and chuck a few gimmicky effects in somewhere.

Whilst the rest of the film comes nowhere near to the 3D wizardry of the opening, apart from an explosive, debris strewn end, it has its own charms. And when 3D effects do occasionally pop up throughout, they are all the more impressive and appropriate for being shots of real things: plumes of water leaping from the screen, a party popper inflated by on-demand fart reaching out of the screen towards you. When the 3D effects aren’t deployed though this is still an enjoyable film, finishing just as you start to become mildly bored by it all. Well perhaps enjoyable is a poorly chosen word. Certainly watching a room full of men puking after drinking the “sweat suit cocktail” and a man propelled skywards in a porta-loo full of shit, is far from enjoyable. These scenes have the whole room collectively groaning and looking away, chuckling with embarrassment and suppressing the gag reflex.

Other scenes are genuinely enjoyable and funny, such as the opening “high-five” gag in which various members of the Jackass team are floored by a giant hand, and the “electric avenue” tazer gauntlet challenge. Again the entire cinema gasps and giggles at the pain. And much of the humour here comes from the irresistible on-screen camaraderie of a group of idiotic, thrill seeking guys having a good laugh. They’re rarely as irritating as I feared; you’re sucked in by their games and the sight of full grown adults clinging to the joys of childhood.

Frankly it seems stupid to dwell on what Jackass 3D isn’t. It obviously lacks the conventions of an ordinary movie. It won’t be for everyone. But by being different it gets back to the core of what movies are about. Going to the cinema should be a group experience in which rows and rows of people are provoked into a reaction; an ooh, an aah, a chortle or a scream. Good cinema sparks conversation afterwards. Jackass 3D shocks the audience. It ticks all the boxes and by properly exploring 3D technology, finds itself at the cutting edge of filmmaking. Most of all though, it’s damn good fun.

Liam Trim (follow me on Twitter)

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