Flickering Myth Movie Blog

The Artist takes top prize at the Richard Attenborough Film Awards

2012-02-02T14:41:00.003Z

The winners of the Richard Attenborough Film Awards 2012 were announced in London earlier this afternoon, with Oscar front-runner The Artist continuing it's run of awards success as it was named Film of the Year, while director Michel Hazanavicius also collected the gong for Filmmaker of the Year. Now in its sixth year, the Richard Attenborough Awards consist of thirteen categories, with six decided by UK film critics and the remaining seven open to public vote.

Take a look at all of the winners here...

Critics categories...

Film of the Year – The Artist
Filmmaker of the Year – Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Screenwriter of the Year – Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Actor of the Year – Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, Shame)
Actress of the Year – Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Rising Star of the Year – Tom Hiddleston (War Horse, Thor, The Deep Blue Sea, Midnight in Paris)

Public Vote...

British Film of the Year – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Animated Film of the Year – Arthur Christmas
Family Film of the Year – The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
British Film Star of the Year – Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Film Star of the Year – Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1)
UK Film Blog Site of the Year – CineVue
Most Anticipated Film of 2012 – The Dark Knight Rises

Finally, we'd just like to say thank you to everyone who took the time to vote for Flickering Myth in the UK Film Blog Site of the Year category - your support is much appreciated!

Thoughts on... Super (2010)

2012-02-02T12:00:00.000Z

Super, 2010.

Directed by James Gunn.
Starring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler and Kevin Bacon.

SYNOPSIS:

An ordinary man decides to superhero suit up and tackle crime himself.

What would happen if an ordinary guy with no superpowers was to one day decide enough is enough, don a costume and fight crime? This is the question Super poses. If it sounds familiar, well, that'll be because Kick-Ass (2010) got there first. Regardless of this, it's a fascinating subject, and one that is handled surprisingly well here.

Frank (Rainn Wilson) is married to recovering drug addict Sarah (Liv Tyler). The movie opens with Frank at his lowest, as Sarah leaves him for Jacques (Kevin Bacon) - owner of a strip club and drug peddler. As he sinks deeper into depression, Frank turns to religion for direction. He stumbles across a public-access TV show that features The Holy Avenger (an underused Nathan Fillion), and has a vision where he is touched by God. Frank believes he has been given the direction he sought, and decides to fight crime and maybe win his wife back.

It's here that we begin to question the sanity of Frank, and this is what makes Super uniquely interesting. Most superhero movies are aware that the hero is a little unbalanced, but their behaviour is always demonstrated as justifiable. We're given morals to get behind, and the violence is portrayed in a relatively safe manner where we never really question its consequences. But with Super, things aren't quite so clear. We're placed in a morally grey area, pondering the stability of Frank whilst witnessing some pretty brutal acts of violence.

Without any superpowers, Frank dons a red costume, names himself The Crimson Bolt and arms himself with a monkey wrench. He figures if he hits criminals hard enough, they'll go down. Along the way he acquires a sidekick, Libby (Ellen Page), aka Boltie. She's also somewhat unhinged, clearly enjoying the violence a little too much. Both make for fascinating character studies. Now, I must confess I am a huge fan of Ellen Page, so perhaps I'm a little biased, but she looks fantastic in her superhero costume.

There's a host of delightful secondary characters that have potential, but unfortunately aren't given much time to shine. The fantastic Linda Cardellini appears briefly as a Pet Store Employee, Nathan Fillion seems well suited in a superhero costume but isn't featured nearly enough, and Michael Rooker is a delightfully menacing bad guy who could do with a few more lines thrown his way. It's a shame such a talented cast were squandered, but they do make the most with what they're given.

At times, Super almost feels like a superhero movie directed by Michael Haneke. It allows us, the audience, to draw the line between good and bad, but is always making us question our enjoyment of the film. It's easy enough to get behind Frank when he smashes the face of a child molester, but his actions become considerably harder to justify when he attacks a couple for butting in line. Libby, meanwhile, is just clearly nuts. Her response to the carnage unleashed is near-orgasmic joy, squealing excitedly like a six year old going to Disneyland. These are our heroes, but they're difficult to really get behind.

Director James Gunn doesn't hold back in unleashing gory violence, splattering crimson across the screen or revealing the consequences of a bullet to the head. The tone doesn't quite sit right with the superhero genre, but it's actually a welcome addition. Lately, superhero movies have been moving towards a darker, grittier, supposedly more realistic feel to them. Super takes this one step further, and should be commended for doing so. It's an unsettling bleakly dark tale.

That's not to say this is a harrowing story devoid of any joy. The raw violence is juxtaposed with moments of surprisingly light comedy, and throughout the movie there is a constant struggle in trying to balance the tone. It never quite succeeds at finding a happy medium, but I must admit I did quite enjoy the result. This is a movie that certainly won't appeal to everyone, but for those who are growing tired of the superhero genre this is an original alternative. Kick-Ass may have got there first, but Super does it better.

Liam Underwood

Films To Watch Before You Die #59 - Trainspotting (1996)

2012-02-02T07:35:00.000Z

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

Trainspotting, 1996.

Directed by Danny Boyle.
Starring Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner, Kevin McKidd and Kelly Macdonald.

Danny Boyle’s stylish and charismatic film adapted from the Irvine Welsh novel of the same name tells the story of a group of heroin addicted friends from an impoverish area of Edinburgh as their lives unfold.

Renton (McGregor), Spud (Bremner), Sick Boy (Miller), Tommy (McKidd) and Begbie (Carlyle) are the friends whose lives are under the microscope as each of them heads down a dark and destructive path of drugs and crime. The story’s main character Renton decides on quitting drugs and after one final hit he locks himself away from the world as he’s gripped by the horrors of withdrawal.

Once finally out the other side he finds his sex drive has returned and during a night out clubbing he pulls Diane (Macdonald), but it’s only when he wakes in the morning he realises she is a 15-year-old schoolgirl living with her parents. Horrified by this discovery he tries to forget about it all, but still remains friends with her.

As Renton lives a clean and sober lifestyle he becomes bored with his life and attempts to find a way out by moving to London and taking on a job. However, his friends catch up with him and trouble isn’t far behind. When they all return to Edinburgh for the funeral of Tommy they manage to come together and pull off a very profitable drug deal. As the celebrate their success they all crash at a hotel, but whilst they sleep Renton has plans of his own and makes off with the cash promising us he’s going to live a different life.

Trainspotting is a film you must see before you die as it’s a rip roaring journey to the depths of drugs abuse and the darkness of the story is illuminated by Boyle’s visionary directing and a killer sound track. The film also offers one of the all time great film monologues as Renton discusses choosing life.

D.J. Haza

Follow my blog at http://djhaza.blogspot.com/
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365 Days, 100 Films #95 - Gremlins (1984)

2012-02-02T07:00:00.000Z

Gremlins, 1984.

Directed by Joe Dante.
Starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Frances Lee McCain, Corey Feldman, Keye Luke, Dick Miller and Judge Reinhold.

SYNOPSIS:

A small town is invaded by a gang of destructive creatures at Christmas.

“There’s a man out there. I-I-I don’t mean a man, I mean, I don’t know what I mean. I mean, maybe a…what did they call them during the war. You know, the pilots?…Gremlins. Gremlins!”

William Shatner whispers the above in his uniquely staccato way during The Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, arguably the most famous of Twilight Zone episodes. Boy, he sure looked like Orson Welles when he was younger.

He’s accompanied by melodramatic music and filmed in a distressed close-up, but the immense terror of the situation blinds you to its exaggerated style. Shatner, playing a man recently recovered from a nervous breakdown, keeps seeing a figure on the wing of his plane. He’s aware it might be only a figment of his imagination – an understanding futilely strengthened by the fact no one else can see it - but is as successful of shaking the fear as Michael Shannon’s character in the recent Take Shelter. “Gremlins!” he later repeats in horror as he watches it rip away at the electrical wires of the wing.

“You gotta watch out for them foreigners ‘cos they plant gremlins in their machinery,” the xenophobic Marty Futterman (Dick Miller) warns Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) as he climbs inside his car during an early scene in Gremlins. “It’s the same gremlins that brought down our planes in the big one” – a distinct echo of the sentiments in Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.

Gremlins is a Christmas film written by Chris Columbus (later the director of Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire and the first two Harry Potter films) and directed by Joe Dante (Piranha, Small Soldiers, The Hole and, to further the connection, an episode of the 1985 revival of The Twilight Zone). You’d imagine the two to cancel out each other’s respective sentimentality and horror. Instead Gremlins, although leaning more towards the dark, contains measures of each.

Billy is a teenager in a small town. It’s Christmas, but everyone is more hard-up than festively merry. His father, Randall (Hoyt Axton), is an inventor. His machines are kooky – a mechanised egg cracker, a portable bathroom – but all stop working properly after a few weeks. The contraptions litter the house to show faith in its breadwinner. Perhaps ‘loyalty’ is a better word, as the rest of the family approach each machine with caution and dread. But Randall’s a kind man, and they humour him out of love.

It means Billy is a central source of income for the Peltzers. Next-door’s Mr Futterman has recently lost his job, along with many in the neighbourhood. Kate (Phoebe Cates), Billy’s love interest, works two jobs. “I thought everyone was supposed to be happy at Christmas,” ponders Billy, looking a bit like the broken Jimmy Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life that plays on the Peltzers’ small, black and white television in the film’s first few scenes.

However, not having enough money – a well-trodden theme for Christmas films – is both inconsistent and often ignored. In the film’s prologue, Randall purchases a cute creature called a mogwai from an old Chinese toyshop as a present for Billy. He initially offers $100, and then jumps to $200 for his subsequent haggle. These are not the actions of an impoverished man. Nevertheless, he buys the mogwai on three conditions from the previous owner:

1. Do not expose to sunlight. It could kill him.
2. Never expose to water. Not even to drink.
3. And probably most importantly, never feed after midnight.

As is the way with rules in films, all three are broken after a short while. The second one makes the mogwai replicate at an alarming rate, whilst the third transforms them into a dangerous, reckless gremlin-like creature.

The initial mogwai, Gizmo, stays cute and loyal to Billy. The others, led by one with a mohawk called Stripe, go about destroying the town and creating absolute chaos. They even murder a few of its inhabitants. It is here where the film becomes a sequence of set pieces and action scenes, forgetting the tales of economic woe of before. The scenes of destruction are both brilliantly executed and often very funny, but the previous warmth and subtext is pushed aside. The town’s many poor folk over Christmas are turned into mere fodder for the gremlin invasion, and the central characters only afforded a single, but heartfelt, scene to develop further.

If Gremlins were to be made now, the mogwai wouldn’t be puppets. Rather, they’d be generated digitally using CGI. Even though the gremlins are limited in what they can do, and their movement appears awkward in the way that stop-motion animation often does, their visibly tangible nature makes them far more believable, threatening and empathetic than the chipmunks, smurfs or Dobbys of today. Be thankful for Attack the Block.

But this is where we return to that man on the wing. There is a more distinct subtext than poverty that runs throughout the film – that the gremlins are a product of foreign, specifically Chinese, economic invasion. Anghus Houvouras wrote recently on this very site about the matter - “…we are shown the Godless communists attacking an American institution: Christmas.”

The observation is a perceptive one. The original mogwai, from where the gremlins came, was purchased from a Chinese man. Mr Futterman slips in at least one reference to foreigners every time he appears onscreen, specifically in relation to their manufacturing exports. Randall is an inventor, attempting to realise the American Dream, but is thwarted by overseas quality at a convention he attends. The Day of the Triffids, an allegory for the Communist invasion of America, plays in the background of a few scenes. However, subtexts are rarely that simple. Instead, Gremlins is a mirror held up against suburban America, demonstrating their self-imposed siege mentality and paranoid fears.

The old Chinese man never wanted to part with the original mogwai. Mr Futterman is a caricature, a recently made-redundant patriot channelling his anger towards foreign countries rather than the reasons for his unemployment residing closer to home. Randall can’t sell any of his inventions because they don’t work. He is an impatient man who peddles his prototypes, becoming uninterested once they start to go wrong, adding on a new feature rather than addressing the fundamental problem. The Day of the Triffids was never anything more than scaremongering, and has an argument itself that the true threat comes from Senator McCarthy’s Communist witch-hunts at the time.

No, the gremlins are not symbolic of a Chinese threat. They are too unruly, too politically unmotivated. They are depicted twice playing video games in separate instances. Their leader, Stripe (as in ‘Stars and…’) wears a mohawk like an 80s punk. They drink until they pass out and roar inappropriately at Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, making a mess of the cinema whilst they do. The gremlins are an articulation of America’s constant fear of the moral deterioration of its youth. They are mischief-makers, not political insubordinates.

RATING ***

Oli Davis

365 Days, 100 Films

Ridley Scott in talks for The Counselor

2012-02-01T20:49:00.000Z

Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Robin Hood) has entered talks to direct Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy’s original scripted drama The Counselor.

McCarthy has already written a number of novels that have been turned into films: No Country for Old Men, The Road, and All the Pretty Horses. This is his first spec screenplay and it was quickly bought by The Road producers Nick Wechsler and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz in December.

The Counselor is a contemporary story set in the Southwest and features a respected lawyer who thinks he can dip his toe into the drug business without getting sucked in. He soon realises this was a bad idea as he finds himself in a desperate situation and has to try his best to get out alive.

Scott has been in direct talks with McCarthy and it is likely that he and his Scott Free Entertainment production company will join the project. If he does sign on, this will be his next film following post-production on Prometheus, which is due out June 1st in the UK. The Counselor would take priority over a number of films vying for the director’s attention, including a historical epic about Gertrude Bell and Summit Entertainment’s Child 44.

Emma Hutchings

Movie Review - Coriolanus (2011)

2012-02-01T13:16:00.000Z

Coriolanus, 2011.

Directed by Ralph Fiennes.
Starring Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Brian Cox, Vanessa Redgrave and Jessica Chastain.

SYNOPSIS:

After being banished from the city, a military hero returns to Rome in order to extract his revenge.

William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus might not be the most famous of his plays, and certainly not, in my opinion, as loved in popular culture as Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet or Much Ado About Nothing; I was surprised, then, when I saw it was to be brought to the big screen in a modern day setting. With Kenneth Branagh (the usual go-to guy for Shakespeare adaptations) making a mess of CGI settings and struggling with a dire story in Thor, this marks the directorial debut of fellow Brit and ‘thesp’ Ralph Fiennes. And what a debut it is.

There is nothing I enjoy more than seeing directors and actors who fully engage and understand the world of the film they are making, and can immerse themselves in the material. Fiennes clearly knows what a modern version of this story should look like and his understanding of the play’s themes and its pulse is evident from the start and never lets up. The film is packed with talent and Fiennes has surrounded his production with some of the industry’s finest.

Telling the tale of a war between the Romans and the Volscians in modern day urban war zone, Fiennes shoots his film entirely handheld and the style works well and is effective at all times; whether it’s putting the viewer in the battles as the bullets fly, or amongst the politicians and family as the drama reaches boiling point. The film’s opening half an hour is electrifying stuff and looks like a sequel to The Hurt Locker and is just a exciting; the sight of Fiennes as Caius Martius (later to be titled Coriolanus) in full military gear with guns and knives with another man’s blood covering his bald head is one of the most striking images I’ll see all year. However, the film is certainly not an action picture and the second half is far more talkative but in these scenes the actors deliver the thrills as we watch the likes of Jessica Chastain (fast becoming my favourite actress), Brian Cox and Vanessa Redgrave (the film’s best performance) hit all the right marks and, again, show an understanding of the play, the themes, and most importantly, the language. There is nothing more embarrassing than an actor who can’t deliver Shakespearian dialogue if called upon to do so. Even Gerard Butler walks away with his head held high, which is a miracle in itself.

Coriolanus may look like great with its handheld style and urban settings and all star cast, but it is for the more ‘mature minded’ audience who want to think about the character’s motivations and reasons for doing what they do, rather than having it spoon fed to them. If you don’t have the attention span for its 122 minutes, or think that everyone has to swear or say ‘like’ after every other word, then this may go over your head. If however, you can embrace the language, the politics, and appreciate how these can translate to 2012, then Coriolanus is the ticket for you.

Morbometer™: 7.6 OUT OF 10

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

Image Conscious: A conversation with visual effects supervisor Phil Tippett

2012-02-01T07:32:00.000Z

Trevor Hogg chats to Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor Phil Tippett...

“In those days very few people were doing visual effects and it was difficult to find work,” recalls American Visual Effects Supervisor Phil Tippett. “Ray Harryhausen [The Golden Voyage of Sinbad] would do his kind of shows, and every once and a while somebody would do a fantasy or space movie. But generally, studios had disbanded a lot of their visual effects departments. There weren’t that many stop-motion animators so they didn’t do it.” The attitude changed with the arrival of filmmakers George Lucas (American Graffiti) and Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind). “George and Steven were big fans of the same kinds of movies that we liked and embraced the technology; they had the resources that allowed us to pushed things farther.”

After joining Industrial Light & Magic, Phil Tippett contributed to the scene in the original Star Wars (1977) where Chewbacca plays a game of chess against R2-D2. “Dennis Muren and I built all of the chess figures and animated them.” Stop-motion evolved into go-motion with the sequel The Empire Strikes Back (1980). “Stop-motion is a static puppet which is usually attached to the table or other kind of device that you can adjust with a blue screen incrementally. You basically sculpt the performance by hand. In Empire we attached the Tauntauns to some of the motion-control equipment to achieve a motion blur. It helped the stop-motion artifacts blend into the live-action scene.” The technique was also employed during the attack sequences on the ice planet Hoth with the Imperial Walkers. “By the time of Return of the Jedi [1983], the third Star Wars, everybody was like, ‘Okay, it’s time to graduate from high school now.’ But there were enough different things we could throw in. Dennis Muren wanted to do the Rancor as a big hand puppet which we did. Initially, George wanted the Rancor to be a man in a suit. They built a big suit and it didn’t look good.” The creative effort paid off as the final installment of the original trilogy won a Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects at the Oscars.

Reflecting on his Academy Award-nominated work in Dragonslayer (1981), Phil Tippett states, “The director Matthew Robbins and Hal Barwood, the producer, were friends of George’s. We had a lot of fun working on that. They allowed us to take what we had learned on Empire with the Tauntauns and take it to the next level.” Williow (1988) resulted in another Academy Award nomination. “Ron Howard is an even keel guy and gives good directions. There’s plenty of new and weird stuff in Willow. It was fun. Working with good directors is very rewarding.” Tippett was co-honoured with the Best Visual Effects Oscar for a dinosaur resurrection tale. “Jurassic Park [1993] was a hard one for me in that it was the big transition from stop-motion go-motion to computer graphics. At some point I was obsolete but it turned out that a lot of the computer guys didn’t understand all of the stuff you need to do to bring these creatures to life. We developed a bunch of technology to bridge the gap between computer graphics and stop-motion go-motion.”

DragonHeart (1996) contended for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards. “I’ve worked with Rob Cohen in developing the design for the dragon and did not work on the production itself. We did a whole bunch of animatics for scenes to play out the action and gave that to ILM.” Tippett is proud of the picture which brought his Oscar nomination tally to five. “Starship Troopers [1997] was the big one for me. There were so many moving parts. It was a cool war movie. It was visceral and R-rated. I like Paul Verhoeven a lot; our approaches were in sync with each other. That was Tippett Studios’ first big foray.” When asked about the infamous comic book adaptation Howard the Duck (1986), Tippett chuckles, “I got to design a wacky thing with a lot of moving parts; it was a fun and different kind of character to do.”

“The good thing about the Twilight series for us is that we could really develop the characters not only in their look but also in their behavior,” states Phil Tippett who has been involved in creating the wolves since they first appeared in The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009). With The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011), a new director meant a different approach for the shape-shifting creatures. “Bill Condon [Gods and Monsters] wanted them lived in, and running through the woods with muddy paws and scraggily hair.” 186 wolf shots had to be produced. “We had about four months when we were prepping all the stuff. There is always this thing between the studios and the directors. The directors want more and the studios don’t want to have to pay for it. There is always a conflict there. We pretty much knew by the time we were starting, what type of shots there were going to be.” Assessing the current contribution by Tippett Studios to the vampire love story, Tippett reveals, “The adjustments we made to do the show are pretty significant in terms of efficiency and resources. These wolves are heavy duty rendering hogs and in the stories there are more and more wolves. We had to be careful about the technology. We would have to revamp as a director wanted different kinds of looks. The animators are really up on wolf behavior. On Breaking Dawn my co-supervisor Matt Jacobs took the art and the technical people to Wolf Mountain; they got into a big pen with some wolves. It was good because you can get a visceral sense of the wolves and we looked a lot up in documentaries.”

“It’s certainly influenced by George in terms of his direction style because like all good directors he’s very inclusive,” remarks Phil Tippett when discussing how his time spent at ILM influenced the way he operates Tippett Studios. “George would say, ‘Here is what we need out of the shot. Now go do it.’ He pretty much took what we gave him. There weren’t any real big issues. In Return of the Jedi there is a scene where the Ewoks roll logs down a hill and one of the Walkers trips over them and falls down. I remember working out that pantomime with George. Generally, he was good about it. He would visit us and we would ask him questions.” The VFX industry has become revolutionized by technology. “The big change has been computer graphics. Up until that point there were only a handful of people who could do what I do and now there are legions of animators.” There is a critical factor required if a VFX facility is to survive. “The key is doing high quality work. It is so competitive. It’s not a level playing field. Countries like India, Korea, China, England, and Australia are more expensive than we are but because of the tax incentives the studios go there.”

There are certain elements required to be a successful visual effects supervisor. “Knowing the moviemaking process, having ideas and not being afraid to speak your mind are the main things,” advises Phil Tippett who has ventured behind the camera. “I’m a lot more sympathetic to the directors. Everybody should be made to direct a movie.” Tippett states, “I would encourage people to go to the Tippett Studio website and checkout Mutantland [2010] which is a little short that we made which was fun. If anybody is interested, I’m posting a bunch of stuff from a film I’m working on my own.” The cinematic project has been in development for the past 20 years. “It could keep going on. In fact I tell some of the guys there’s a title card that says, ‘The End.’ So if I was to have a heart attack in three minutes and they can just slap ‘The End’ on it and we’ll be done.” Contemplating his own ability to survive in VFX industry, Tippett says, “I’m hoping its skill and the attention to detail.” He adds, “Everybody’s creative process is different; it’s a matter of figuring out their take on things.”

Mutantland:

Twilight stills © 2011 Summit Entertainment.

Many thanks to Phil Tippett for taking the time out of his schedule for this interview.

For more information, be sure to visit the Tippett Studio website here.

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

Films To Watch Before You Die #58 - Unforgiven (1992)

2012-02-01T07:15:00.001Z

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

Unforgiven, 1992.

Directed by Clint Eastwood.
Starring Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Jaimz Woolvett and Saul Rubinek.

Unforgiven is the magnificent and dark story of William Munny (Eastwood) returning to his old ways as a gunslinger and taking on one last job in order to feed his young family. The film is one of only three Westerns ever to win the Oscar for Best Picture after Cimarron (1931) and Dances with Wolves (1990).

The story follows Munny as he leaves his new life of farming with his two young children in order to take on the job of killing two cowboys in Big Whiskey, Wyoming. The cowboys took it upon themselves to brutally cut up the face of a prostitute in the town and the other local prostitutes have all banded together and put up money out of their own pockets in order to see justice for their friend. Enough money to turn Munny’s fortunes around.

Munny is approached by the Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett), who wants him to ride along for the job after hearing the tales of old, picturing Munny as a wild and cold-hearted killer. Munny constantly plays down the stories and enlists the help of his old friend and former gunslinger Ned (Freeman). As the three ride towards the town it’s clear the Kid has little or no experience and his eyesight is pretty poor. After arriving in the town and having a run in with the local sheriff, Little Bill (Hackman), the three of them escape to a barn outside of town where they hold up for a few days.

After Munny kills one of the cowboys Ned decides on leaving due to his lack of appetitive for this lifestyle anymore and Munny confesses he doesn’t wish to return to his old ways either. However, Munny and the Kid continue on and the Kid kills the second cowboy before confessing he had never killed before and renounces the gunslinger lifestyle. After Munny and the Kid claim their prize they are told that on his way back out of town Ned was captured by Little Bill and tortured to death. Munny sends the Kid back home to deliver Ned’s share to his family and Munny’s to his as he decides he wants vengeance.

As Little Bill is instructing a posse that they need to find Munny and the Kid, Ned’s body is displayed outside the saloon for all to see. Before Little Bill and his guys can leave Munny enters carrying his shotgun and promptly kills several men for decorating their bar with his friend. A bloody gun battle ensues in the saloon and most of Little Bill’s deputies lay dead. Munny wounds Little Bill and orders everyone out of the bar as he puts one final bullet into Little Bill and leaves town.

Unforgiven is an absolute classic of a film and explores the darker side of the Old West as legends are built by whispers and story telling and make it hard for a man to change. William Munny’s arc from simple farmer back to his unflinching and steady-handed gun-slinging ways is brilliant to watch and when he finally arrives back in the saloon to murder everyone in his way it offers one of the great scenes in the Western film genre. And for that reason Unforgiven is a film that you must see before you die.

D.J. Haza

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Burn in Hell contest - Win a Kevin Smith book and DVD

2012-02-01T07:01:00.000Z

This month sees the premiere of Kevin Smith's latest one-man show Burn in Hell, which airs on the EPIX premium network on February 11th, with on-demand previews beginning February 3rd, offering subscribers and non-subscribers an early screening of the entire special. To celebrate, we have got our hands on two fantastic prizes - a signed copy of Silent Bob Speaks: The Collected Writings of Kevin Smith and a signed copy of An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder on DVD - which we're offering to one lucky Stateside reader.

Read on for more information, two clips from the special, and details of how to enter this fantastic giveaway...

"In the hour and a half special, recorded live at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas, Smith conducts a riotous and outrageous Q&A session about the aftermath of his latest film, Red State. Topics include his mishaps and misadventures such as drawing the ire of the entire movie blogger community at the Sundance Film Festival and being followed around the country by the highly devout, and highly angered, Phelps Family."

On prayer...

If I was making a Batman movie...

The preview of Burn in Hell can be viewed via participating affiliated television providers’ EPIX On Demand service and EPIX apps on Xbox 360 and Roku. It will also be available for streaming at EpixHD.com and the “TV Everywhere” portals of affiliated providers.

To be in with a chance of winning, all you need to do is make sure you like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, then send a quick email with your contact details (be sure to include your postal address and Facebook or Twitter username in the email), the subject heading "BURN IN HELL" and an answer to the following question...

Your favourite Kevin Smith movie is..?

The competition closes at 5pm on Sunday, February 12th. US entrants only please.

By entering this competition you agree to our terms and conditions, which you can read here.

For more information about EPIX, go to www.EpixHD.com. Follow EPIX on Twitter @EpixHD and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/EpixHD.

War Horse tops the UK box office chart for the third week on the trot

2012-01-31T18:37:00.000Z

UK box office top ten and analysis for the weekend of Friday 27th to Sunday 29th January 2012...

It may not be the front-runner for the Best Picture Oscar, but Steven Spielberg's War Horse is certainly setting the pace at the UK box office (and providing me with the opportunity to churn out a slew of horse-related gags), with the World War I drama adding another £2m to give it a strong cumulative gross of £13.4m to date on these shores.

War Horse fended off some pretty strong competition from new releases this past weekend, including fellow Best Picture nominee, Alexander Payne's George Clooney-starrer The Descendants, which takes second place with £1,797,939. Also surpassing the seven-figure mark on their debut weekend were the Liam Neeson survival thriller The Grey (taking third with £1,097,338) and 3D animation A Monster in Paris (in fourth with £1,043,531), while the recent awards success for Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist sees the acclaimed silent feature climb three spots to finish up in fifth after five weeks on screens.

Moving on to the bottom half of the chart and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows drops two positions to sixth and remains the highest-grossing release in the top ten, while Underworld: Awakening suffers a steep decline in its second weekend, plunging four places to seventh. Meanwhile The Iron Lady, The Sitter and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol all fall three positions each, occupying spots eight through ten.

Number one this time last year: Tangled

Pos.	Film	Weekend Gross	Week	Total UK Gross
1	War Horse	£2,081,490	3	£13,418,627
2	The Descendants	£1,797,939	1	£1,797,939
3	The Grey	£1,094,338	1	£1,094,338
4	A Monster in Paris	£1,043,531	1	£1,043,531
5	The Artist	£704,348	5	£4,470,081
6	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows	£655,144	7	£25,663,306
7	Underworld: Awakening	£627,846	2	£2,382,349
8	The Iron Lady	£567,397	4	£8,405,809
9	The Sitter	£554,568	2	£1,967,227
10	Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol	£529,462	6	£17,536,984

Incoming...

Wednesday sees the release of the found footage super powers flick Chronicle (cert. 12A) from first time director Josh Trank, while new arrivals on Friday include Adam Sandler's latest comedy Jack and Jill (cert. PG) [read our review here], Roman Polanski's Carnage (cert. 15) [read our review here], acclaimed psychological thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene (cert. 15), Jason Reitman comedy Young Adult (cert. 15), family adventure Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (cert. PG) and crime thriller Man on a Ledge (cert. 12A), starring Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell and Ed Harris.

U.K. Box Office Archive

Films To Watch Before You Die #57 - The Usual Suspects (1995)

2012-01-31T07:40:00.000Z

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

The Usual Suspects, 1995.

Directed by Bryan Singer.
Starring Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Pete Postlethwaite and Kevin Spacey.

The Usual Suspects is a stylish little neo-noir with a meager $6 million budget and was screened out of competition at Cannes then offered a limited release before it eventually took off. The film went on to earn writer Christopher McQuarrie an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and Kevin Spacey an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

The film centres on the police interrogation of small time conman with a limp, Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint, after he is one of only two people to survive a massacre aboard a boat docked in the Port of Los Angeles. As the police grill him, they get the entire back story of how he and four other criminals were brought together to do several jobs that led them to be working for the infamous and mysterious mob boss Keyser Soze.

The police believe they already know who the real Keyser Soze is and getting Kint to spill the beans on what he has saw should surely be the final nail in the mob boss’s coffin, but Kint doesn’t give them the answers they want. As Kint tells his story and it unravels in flashbacks anyone could be Keyser Soze. The flashbacks tell of how the men were brought together, the jobs they were involved in and then the moment they were made aware they were working for Soze and that they had no choice but to do as he asked.

Finally the men are led to the boat docked at the Port of Los Angeles and instead of finding the cocaine they were told they were looking for they find just one man being guarded. The man has sworn he can identify Soze and one gang plan on selling him to another who are looking for the illustrious mob boss. Kint and the others arrive and all hell breaks loose, as Soze has planned on being there to kill the man who can identify him before finally disappearing for good. Are all the police’s questions answered? Do they know who Keyser Soze is? Can Soze be caught? You will have to watch to find out.

The Usual Suspects is a film you must see before you die as it has one of the most iconic endings in film history as the real identity of Keyser Soze is revealed.

D.J. Haza

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Movie Review - Fright Night (2011)

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000Z

Fright Night, 2011.

Directed by Craig Gillespie.
Starring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant, Toni Collette, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Imogen Poots and Dave Franco.

SYNOPSIS:

A high school student comes to suspect that his next-door neighbor is a vampire.

Fright Night follows Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), a down-to-earth high schooler who’s just trying to fit in with the cool crowd. He’s got a pretty girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots), and he’s got two douchebag friends - Reid Ewing and James Franco’s younger brother Dave. One day his old best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) comes to him with something he’s very serious about. Ed believes that Charley’s new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) is in fact a vampire. Charley obviously doesn’t believe Ed at first, but as the movie progresses he starts to take notice of some of Jerry’s actions. For instance, vampires aren’t allowed into anyone’s house without an invitation and we get a scene where Charley gets some beer from his fridge for Jerry but he won’t cross the threshold into the house. A scream from Jerry’s house causes Charley to become paranoid that his neighbor really could be a vampire. Once he finds out what Jerry truly is he goes to Vegas, hoping a Criss Angel-like magician named Peter Vincent (David Tennant) will help him stop Jerry from taking over his neighborhood.

Having seen the original after seeing this one, I have to give the remake a few more points for being completely different. Most remakes tend to be exact copies of the original, just updated a little for the new generation. Here they manage to keep the same overall plot, as well as character names, but the film is essentially different in almost every way and that's a good thing. The movie doesn’t take long to get going and once it does it never lets up. It has a kind of Disturbia or Rear Window vibe to it in the same way that we watched the main character in those movies try to figure out if his neighbor was a killer or not. On so many levels this film really works and shows that not every remake can be a complete disaster.

For one the acting in this is surprisingly great. Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell run the show in this and give some great performances, Farrell especially. David Tennant makes for a pretty amusing vampire hunter, while Christopher Mintz-Plasse does well in his limited screen time. Also giving some good performances are the females in the movie. Both Imogen Poots and Toni Collette play great girlfriend and mom figures in the movie.

The effects here really work as well. Toward the end, some of the CGI gets to be a little much but everything up until then looks great. Story-wise the movie really works too because it sucks you right into it and the filmmakers give it a smooth and brisk pace. It’s hard to believe the guy who directed Mr. Woodcock directed this, and made it quite an entertaining movie. To me I enjoyed this more than the original Fright Night; not to say the original is bad - I just had a lot more fun with this one and liked what they chose to do story-wise more so than the original.

Jake Peffer

365 Days, 100 Films #94 - The Night of the Hunter (1955)

2012-01-30T20:15:00.000Z

The Night of the Hunter, 1955.

Directed by Charles Laughton.
Starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce.

SYNOPSIS:

Two children are chased down the river in West Virginia by a man who claims to be a Preacher.

“Beware of false prophets. They will come to you in sheep’s clothing,” Mrs Cooper (Lillian Gish, the muse of D.W. Griffith) warns the camera in the film’s prologue, her head superimposed upon a starry night sky. Mrs Cooper doesn’t return until the final third of the film, but her guiding presence is felt throughout.

She is presented as a guardian angel of children, a fairy godmother - a protector against the fake Preacher, Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum). Establishing shots often swoop aerially from the sky, as though Mrs Cooper’s watches from above, while Powell hunts the children through the night like a big, bad wolf.

The children are John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl Harper (Sally Jane Bruce). One day their father, Ben Harper (Peter Graves), returns home with a bloody hole in his chest and a bag full of stolen money. He hides his treasure and forces his children into swearing its secrecy – not even to tell Momma.

Officers arrive and handcuff Ben on the floor. “Don’t!” is all John can whimper, half aimed at the policemen, half aimed at his father for stealing his childhood with this burden. The boy is aged instantly by his secret. Harry, that fake Preacher, learns of the money when sharing a cell with Ben, who is waiting to hang.

Harry has made a strange pact with God. He mutters to the Lord as the crazy would to an imaginary friend. It allows him to claim his twisted beliefs as the convictions of God, and he wields it powerfully over the easily manipulated and weak.

Using his imposing charisma, Harry swiftly brainwashes and marries Willa (Shelley Winters), Ben Harper’s widow. Not a hint of his hidden callousness is detected, but John sees the evil in him. It is revealed to Willa on their honeymoon night, where Harry embarks on a condemning monologue against her wanting to consummate their marriage. The woman’s body is a temple for producing life, he preaches, not a slave to the lust of man. The terror is twofold. First at the grave error Willa has made, now committed to this faux-Holy man forever and ever. Second that Harry is not simply there for financial gain. He believes he is doing right by the Lord. He is truly a madman, becoming increasingly obsessed with the Harper kids’ money. He chases those two poor kids until they have nothing left, and they become lost in a sea of children orphaned by recession.

Mitchum’s Harry Powell might be cinema’s definitive psycho, with his booming New York baritone, sounding like a demented Yogi Bear. He’s a child-catcher, a fairy-tale villain, and as he howls and bangs at the basement door that he is at one point locked behind, you almost think he’ll roar “AND I’LL BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN!”

He has a perverse side, too. Along with the ‘LOVE’ and ‘HATE’ tattoos across his knuckles, he always carries with him a switchblade. During fits of anger, he will finger the blade within his pocket, flicking it out through the fabric of his jacket in a phallic outburst. That these most commonly occur around women – in the striptease joint at the start, or when he treats the young Ruby (Gloria Castillo) to ice cream – hints towards a disgust at his own desires.

As the film progresses, the tone and narrative twist into a dark fairy-tale: the set and lighting become more expressive, the music increasingly disquieting. Shot with a deeply focused lens, Powell and Willa’s tall bedroom, with a slanted ceiling that points towards the night’s sky, momentarily takes the appearance of a church. This, along with other aesthetic tricks of superimposition and split focus, recall the experimental visual style of Citizen Kane.

Yet scenes of immense lyricism break up these dark episodes. As the two children gently sail down the river in their commandeered fishing boat with John fast asleep from the day’s chase, Pearl starts to sing. The scenery around them doesn’t appear real, as though the current has drifted them into an illustration from an old Hans Christian Anderson book. Animals are shown going about their daily business, indifferent to these two kids in the middle of nowhere, just as night is becoming day, escaping the mad Preacher who wants to slit their throats.

This was Charles Laughton’s only film he ever directed. He was an English actor who preferred to play his characters as large as his frame (he was Gracchus in Kubrick’s Spartacus, one of his last roles), and increasingly incompatible with a Hollywood that favoured realism. The Night of the Hunter channels his artistic expressionism and is all the richer for it.

But the film was a critical and commercial failure, and he was never behind the camera again. Now it sits in the United States Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. Cinema was denied a potentially great practitioner, and one cannot help recall those saddest words of tongue and pen: “It might have been”.

RATING ****

Oli Davis

365 Days, 100 Films

Matthew Vaughn signs on for X-Men: First Class 2

2012-01-30T18:45:00.000Z

Deadline are reporting that Fox have closed a deal with Matthew Vaughn to return to the director's chair for a sequel to last year's superhero prequel X-Men: First Class, with X-Men veteran Bryan Singer also back in a producing capacity and Simon Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, X-Men: The Last Stand, Sherlock Holmes) handling scriptwriting duties. Vaughn will of course be joined on the sequel by James McAvoy as Professor Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Magneto, both of whom were signed to three-picture deals, which presumably also extends to cast members such as Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggert), January Jones (Emma Frost) and Nicholas Hoult (Beast).

While no release date is mentioned for the sequel, the first movie was put together in less than twelve months so it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility to see Xavier and his School for Gifted Youngsters back on the big-screen next summer, especially if Fox continue to experience delays with The Wolverine. Hugh Jackman's second solo outing as the adamantium-clawed mutant has been beset with problems and postponements since it was first announced, with the project currently in the hands of James Mangold following the departure of its original director, Darren Aronofsky. The Wolverine is currently slated to begin filming this spring, while Fox also have the X-Men Origins: Wolverine spin-off Deadpool in development under Tim Miller, with Ryan Reynolds thought to remain attached in the lead role.

Moving beyond the X-Men franchise, there's also talk that Fox will enlist Chronicle director Josh Trank to oversee their reboot of The Fantastic Four, while non-superhero projects in the pipeline include Michael Mann's Go Like Hell, Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Rupert Wyatt's Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel and Kiefer Sutherland's return as Jack Bauer for the long-rumoured big-screen take on the hit television series 24.

Blu-ray Review - Rolling Thunder (1977)

2012-01-30T12:41:00.000Z

Rolling Thunder, 1977.

Directed by John Flynn.
Starring William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones and Linda Haynes.

SYNOPSIS:

A Vietnam veteran seeks revenge after the murder of his wife and child.

Part revenge tale, part human drama, part commentary on the Vietnam war, and part study on the human psyche, Rolling Thunder is a great example of ‘they don’t like films like this anymore’ and makes a welcome debut to DVD and Blu-Ray.

The story is simple; Charles Rane and Johnny Vohden return from 7 years spent in a Vietnamese POW camp to a hero’s welcome. America has changed – the people, the town, the politics but also their family life, too. Rane’s wife has had an affair with his friend and is leaving with his young boy. His boy, only 18 months when Rane went to war, doesn’t know him and they have 7 years to catch up on. Everyone’s life has moved on except Rane but when his wife and boy are murdered in their home, he only lives for revenge.

The film was written by Paul Schrader and is a classic Schrader story. Like Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, Raging Bull and Hardcore, this film is about men at war with themselves and their struggle to fit into the society in which they live. Rane is a man of few words and even fewer emotions; we are never sure what is going on inside his mind because he won’t let anyone in, like typical men in Schrader’s worlds seldom do. The film is teetering on the edge of explosive violence from the very beginning but it isn’t until the final act that the violence, built up and accumulated over the course of the previous 80 minutes, is shown in full force. Like Taxi Driver, the men whom Rane takes his vengeance out on are a manifestation of the evils encountered throughout his life; yes, they killed his wife and child, but Schrader never wrote a scene where Rane breaks down or expresses pain for his loss because the man who went to Vietnam is not the man who came back and has no pain left to feel. “It’s like my eyes are open and I’m looking at you,” he tells one character, “But I’m dead. They pulled out whatever it was inside of me.”

William Devane is on sensational form as Rane, with subtle emotions and gestures carrying the character into a dark place where he once again feels at home in a world of death and suffering. He wears a hook for most of the film after losing his hand to the thugs who kill his family and his disfigurement becomes both physical and mental as the film unfolds. Tommy Lee Jones has a small role as Vohden and even in this, one of his first big screen appearances, you can see an actor at the top of his profession and a master of nuance and body language; he is stone faced throughout the film but his first smile is when they talk of killing the men for whom Rane is out for revenge and it is a noticeable change of direction for the character in such a small, almost throw-away laugh. The men are of few words, and they use sunglasses to block out the world they have come back to; they hide their eyes from America each time the glasses go on you can almost feel the men boiling over into madness. All they know is death and destruction now, and are happy to turn their back on their hometown in search of more of what they once tried to escape.

Rolling Thunder is a simple story with multiple layers under the surface thanks to the brilliant Schrader and lead performances. It is violent, dark, disturbing, menacing and essential cult film viewing.

Eli Roth on Rolling Thunder...

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

DVD Review - Yamada: Way of the Samurai (2010)

2012-01-30T10:15:00.002Z

Yamada: Way of the Samurai (a.k.a. Yamada: The Samurai of Ayothaya), 2010.

Directed by Nopporn Watin.
Starring Seigi Ozeki, Kanokkorn Jaicheun, Sorapong Chatree, Thanawut Ketsaro, Winai Kraibutr and Buakhao Paw Pramuk.

SYNOPSIS:

Betrayed and left for dead, the young Japanese samurai Yamada finds a new home in Siam and soon faces his greatest battle against the elite warriors he once regarded as brothers.

Based upon the exploits of Yamada Nagamasa, a Japanese samurai and adventurer who rose to prominence during the Sukothai Dynasty in Ayutthaya in the 17th century, Yamada: Way of the Samurai is a historical action epic from Thailand that brings together Japanese swordplay with the bone-crunching, hard hitting Muay Thai style made famous by Tony Jaa with the likes of Ong-bak and Warrior King. Although there’s a decent amount of high-impact martial arts entertainment on offer, Yamada is hampered somewhat by its low production values (the film was produced on a budget of ฿100,000,000, which translates to a rather less impressive £2 million to us folks here in the UK), along with a well-trodden, predictable narrative that will be instantly familiar to fans of the genre.

Thai-based Japanese actor Seigi Ozeki (The Odd Couple) leads the cast as the eponymous Yamada, a samurai based in the Ayutthaya province of Siam. After discovering a plot to kill the king instigated by his own people, Yamada is attacked by a group of ninjas and left critically injured. Rescued by a band of fabulously-moustachioed Thai warriors (including veteran kickboxer Buakhao Paw Pramuk), Yamada is taken to a remote village where he is nursed back to health and soon gains an appreciation of the ancient fighting art of Muay Boran. Merging this no-nonsense technique with his own traditional Japanese martial arts, Yamada eventually earns the respect of the Thai warriors and rises through the ranks to become bodyguard to the King Naresuan the Great (Winai Kraibutr) – a role that ultimately leads to a final showdown with his former allies.

Despite the story being overly familiar, the majority of viewers will be watching this to get their action fix and in this regard, Yamada is fairly successful. At times, the cinematography is a little amateurish and the low budget also means we’re treated to an abundance of wonky computer-generated blood effects, but in general the fight scenes are well-choreographed and fairly entertaining. Naturally they don’t quite reach the heights of the aforementioned Ong-bak, but there’s still some impressive action on display, with a good mix of hand-to-hand combat and brutal swordplay. Apart from the CG blood, the only real complaint I have in this department is the over-reliance on slow-motion, which isn’t too much of a problem during the fight scenes, although it does become a little frustrating when it extends to simple actions such as a character taking a bow or turning their head.

Overall, Yamada: Way of the Samurai is a distinctly average entry in the martial arts genre, but if you’re a fan of Muay Thai and easily entertained then you’ll probably want to check it out, particularly for a standout performance from Thanawut Ketsaro’s moustache, which is without a doubt one of the finest I’ve ever seen in Asian cinema.

Gary Collinson

Films To Watch Before You Die #56 - Schindler's List (1993)

2012-01-30T07:02:00.000Z

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

Schindler's List, 1993.

Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley and Ralph Fiennes.

Schindler’s List is Steven Spielberg’s multi award winning World War Two film that tells the story of Oskar Schindler, the German businessman who saved the lives of over a thousand refugees of Polish-Jewish descent during the Holocaust.

The film is rated as one of the greatest ever made and ranks highly on any list of films that must be seen. Its massive award success included Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and five others, as well as seven BAFTAs and three Golden Globes. The critical success was mirrored at the box office as the film brought in more than $321,000,000 worldwide and has been cited by many filmmakers as close to perfection.

The story follows Schindler (Neeson), a German businessman who arrives in Krakow with plans of becoming a war profiteer. At this time Jewish Poles were being relocated to Krakow ghetto by the German military and held in the area, unable to leave. Schindler, using his Nazi Party membership, military sponsorship and a few bribes, manages to acquire a factory and begins making war mess kits. However, with little or no knowledge on how to actually run this business he hires Itzhak Stern (Kingsley) to help him.

Stern uses his position as an official of Krakow’s Jewish Council to find Jewish businessmen who lend Schindler money for his factory in return for goods produced. Schindler also hires Jewish Poles to work in his factory rather than Catholic Poles, as he only has too pay a pittance to the SS in order to use them. Those that do work in Schindler’s factory are afforded more freedom and are allowed out of the ghetto.

With the factory being a big success Schindler reaps the benefits and praise of the Nazis whilst Stern handles the administrative side of the business. However, he comes to realise that the Nazis are committing unbelievable horrors against the Jewish people and so he falsifies documents deeming more and more people essential to the German war effort. This ensures that as many people as possible avoid being sent to concentration camps or executed as the Nazis order every Jew killed or moved to Auschwitz.

Schindler bribes a number of Nazi officials in order to keep his Jewish workers from being sent to Auschwitz and certain death. He compiles his list of skilled workers he needs in order to run his factory and goes about getting them saved.

Schindler's List is a film you must see before you die, as it’s an unbelievable true story about how one man saved so many lives. At the end of the war there were less than 4000 Jews left alive in Poland, but due to the work of Oskar Schindler there are now over 6000 Jewish descendants of his factory workers. The film is touching, tragic, heartbreaking, beautiful and a real eye opener.

D.J. Haza

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The Grey leads the pack at the North American box office

2012-01-29T22:57:00.001Z

Liam Neeson leads The Grey to the number one spot this weekend at the North American box office. The Joe Carnahan directed thriller made $20 million dollars in its opening weekend and the well-reviewed survival thriller is the latest hit for Neeson, who has been able to open three straight films in this time frame to stronger than expected numbers.

Last week's number one Underworld: Awakening had a stronger than expected hold, dropping just 50% week over week for a second place finish with another $12 million dollars. The franchise is showing no signs of slowing down as Awakening, already at $44 million, may end up as the highest grossing entry of the series. It would have to beat Underworld: Evolution at $62 million, and that number seems very attainable.

One for the Money starring Katherine Heigl managed a decent $11 million dollar opening. The bounty hunter-themed comedy was another consistent opener for Heigl who has managed to deliver better than average box office with her last four films. However, One for the Money could end this trend depending on how strong it holds in week two.

Man on a Ledge debuted with a disappointing $8 million dollars. Sam Worthington is having a tough time transitioning from big budget spectacles like Avatar and Clash of the Titans to more realistic material. Whether or not he'll have a career in films that don't require a green screen remains uncertain. He returns to form in March with the sequel Wrath of the Titans.

Red Tails had a decent hold dropping less than 50% and taking in another $10 million dollars over the weekend for a cume of $33 million. Steven Soderbergh's action thriller Haywire took a nosedive this week only managing $4 million in spite of it's marquee cast.

On the awards front, The Descendants is moving back up the charts taking in $6 million this weekend, up from last weekend's total. With the Oscar nominations being announced this past week, the George Clooney-starring drama has received a nice bump. So too has the silent film The Artist, which netted another $3 million this week. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close received a baffling Best Picture nomination, helping the film hold strong in it's second week taking in another $7 million dollars.

Next week is the Super Bowl which is traditionally a slow weekend for the box office and yet there are three more studio releases hitting cineplexes, including the found footage superhero film Chronicle, Daniel Radcliffe horror The Woman in Black and the family film Big Miracle.

Here's your top films for North America...

1. The Grey
Weekend Estimate: $20 million

2. Underworld: Awakening
Weekend Estimate: $12 million; $44 million total

3. One for the Money
Weekend Estimate: $11 million

4. Red Tails
Weekend Estimate: $10 million; $33 million total

5. Man on a Ledge
Weekend Estimate: $8 million

Anghus Houvouras

Cinema: The Noble Art Form

2012-01-29T12:51:00.000Z

Commenting on the commentators with Simon Columb...

On Friday 27th January, John Dugdale commented on the movie industry's heavy reliance on literature; writing for The Guardian, he mentions the Best Picture nominees not based on books, noting:

"Diehard believers in cinema's creative autonomy will no doubt point in the Oscars list not only to The Artist, but also to two self-penned movies by publicity-averse veteran auteurs, Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris and Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life. They'd be unwise to do so, as these films are by no means pure of literary influences. Online commenters have begun to note echoes of DH Lawrence (as well as Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey) in Malick's Palme d'Or winner, and particularly The Rainbow's portrayal of one family against a cosmic backdrop; while Midnight in Paris makes no secret of its bookish hankerings, magically granting its present-day protagonist encounters with Djuna Barnes, TS Eliot, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein."

Indeed what contemporary work of theatre or cinema is ever "pure of literary influence"? I can appreciate the highlighting of films exclusively based on the books - but Hollywood will always try and make films that have established audiences. For example, the reason The Da Vinci Code and the two (!!!) versions of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were made was because of the success of the book. I think the same could be said about the producers' decision to greenlight the hugely successful novel-turned-play War Horse and international bestseller The Help. As I understand, in America Extremely Loud and Incredible Close is actually on the High School syllabus. Talk about an established audience to home-in on.

Then again, you always have the films which completely capitalise on the source material but reinterpret it. Do we ignore the unique and artistic quality of Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet? The modern-day retelling of Coriolanus? What about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Casino Royale? Both from short stories and expanded upon to become feature-length films with much more depth, meaning and - in the case of 007 - action.

Dugdale clearly rates literature as a higher art-form to cinema, hence the 'debt' he believes cinema owes literature. Leonardo Da Vinci argued painting as the more noble art-form in comparison to sculpture, stating the broad range of skills required: "light, shade, colour, body, shape, position, distance, nearness, motion and rest". In a similar way, cinema requires the combination of literature, theatre, music and art to truly become something incredible. With this in mind, maybe Dugdale cannot see the wood for the trees as cinema is a more noble art form through the way it develops and refines the literary word.

Simon Columb

Thoughts on... The Long Riders (1980)

2012-01-29T11:00:00.000Z

The Long Riders, 1980.

Directed by Walter Hill.
Starring James Keach, Stacy Keach, David Carradine, Keith Carradine, Robert Carradine, Randy Quaid, Dennis Quaid, Christopher Guest, Nicholas Guest, James Remar and Savannah Smith Boucher.

SYNOPSIS:

The story of the legendary bank raids of the James-Younger Gang.

Last year saw the end of Bin Laden and Gaddafi, and a curious morbidity in certain circles made bloodthirsty calls for pictures of the corpses, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the days of the old West. Back when photographs of bullet-ridden cadavers sold for the price of a keepsake locket, there was one man the collectors wanted to see dead more than any other. Schooled by Quantrill’s Raiders in the probably-not-that-noble art of bushwhacking, his name, of course, was Jesse James.

For the James-Younger gang, Missouri after the Civil War was a mess of unsettled old scores. Knocking off Union-owned banks, trains and stagecoaches, their crime spree certainly started as a way of getting back at the government, but there are only so many “permanent loans” you can take from the Rock Island Line before people get wise to your tricks and start putting timelocks on their safes.

Right. No more history cliffnotes. On with the gunslinging and the heart-wringing. That, more than anything, is what The Long Riders concerns itself with. Director Walter Hill certainly points out the historical landmarks, but we quickly sail past, headed for solid storytelling and gripping set pieces instead. His visual style, at least in the shootouts (sooo many shootouts), owes more than a little to Sam Peckinpah. Hill goes as far as he can for as long as he dares to make us feel every bullet rip through every man in the climactic Northfield Bank sequence. History tells us they had it coming all along; Hill makes us wish it didn’t have to be like this.

The Long Riders does hold together on its own merits, if only because we believe that these men are brothers. For a film chiefly about notorious, troubled families, Hill made the obvious, if somewhat ambitious decision to cast four sets of brothers as four sets of brothers. We get the Keachs, the Carradines, the Quaids and the Guests, probably the biggest collection of acting brothers in one film since Duck Soup. The simple fact that various groups of men look like each other is our way into the film.

By sheer virtue of the men it chooses to tell a story about, The Long Riders earns itself considerable familiarity with us. After the briefest of title sequences set to Ry Cooder’s rootsy, award-winning bluegrass score, we jump straight into the middle of a bank robbery with the gang. We know them, the locals know them, and, in their way, they respect them. After a century and a half of outlaw ballads, dime-store novels and Hollywood westerns bearing his name, Jesse James and his gang have become the men who need no introduction.

This film, like so many other westerns of the eighties, has been allowed to slip under the radar for too long. It was a genre going out of fashion at the time, with only the odd flash of brilliance like Clint Eastwood’s Pale Rider to remind everyone just how cool gunslingers could be. Any western fan who rates The Wild Bunch or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford would do well to take advantage of this tantalising glimpse into the past lives of America’s most wanted men, played by one of the most fascinating cast ensembles you’ll ever see in Stetsons.

James Keach doesn’t play up to the usual cool and collected persona, showing up more of Jesse James’ violent temper and hypocritical tendencies than any hints of heroism. Then there’s David Carradine as Cole Younger, the cunning, blunt-mannered desperado. He’s coming to terms with his strange attachment to a prostitute with ambition (a supremely feisty Pamela Reed), which involves quite a lot of gambling and knife fights. Stacy Keach and his scene-stealing moustache comprise Frank James, a man fighting against his restless nature and a nagging feeling that he should have outgrown this lifestyle a long time ago.

It’s all compelling stuff, played with finesse and subtlety, but the sparse, episodic structure of The Long Riders feels more like a network TV series reaching the end of its run than a feature film. There’s a handful of stories here that might have panned out beautifully, if they hadn’t been boxed into a 100 minutes of screen time. Spread out over a six part series, who knows, it might’ve been bigger. Or maybe Jesse James was big enough when he was still alive, and no film is long enough or ambitious enough to hold him. Then again, the same could be said about Stacy Keach’s moustache. Spinoff series? Spinoff series.

Simon Moore is a budding screenwriter, passionate about films both current and classic. He has a strong comedy leaning with an inexplicable affection for 80s montages and movies that you can’t quite work out on the first viewing.

Michel Hazanavicius collects the DGA Award for The Artist

2012-01-29T10:50:00.003Z

The Directors Guild of America's 2012 Career Achievement Awards were presented at the Grand Ballroom at the Hollywood & Highland Center last night, with Michel Hazanavicius the recipient of the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film, further cementing The Artist's status as front runner for Best Feature at the Academy Awards next month. Of the previous sixty-three recipients of the award only six have failed to replicate their success with an Oscar win for Best Director, while fifty have also went on to see their film collect the coveted Best Picture, including last year's winner, Tom Hooper, for The King's Speech.

Take a look at all of the winners from last night's DGA Awards...

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
James Marsh (Project Nim)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series
Jon Cassar (The Kennedys)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series
Patty Jenkins (The Killing)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series
Robert B. Weide (Curb Your Enthusiasm)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety
Glenn Weiss (65th Annual Tony Awards)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs
Neil P. Degroot (Biggest Loser)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Daytime Serials
William Ludel (General Hospital)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs
Amy Schatz (A Child's Garden of Poetry)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials
Noam Murro

DGA Honorary Life Member Award
Ed Sherin

Frank Capra Achievement Award
Katy E. Garretson

Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award
Dennis W. Mazzocco

Awards season has been very kind to The Artist so far, with recent honours including Golden Globe awards for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Actor - Musical or Comedy and Best Original Score, along with the Darryl F. Zanuck Award from the Producers Guild of America. The Artist will contend the Best Picture Oscar against The Descendants, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life and War Horse, while Hazanavicius is nominated alongside Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), Alexander Payne (The Descendants) and Martin Scorsese (Hugo) in the category of Best Director. The Oscars will be presented on February 26th.

The Week in Spandex - The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises, Doctor Strange, Man of Steel, Ghost Rider and more

2012-01-28T10:18:00.000Z

Presenting our weekly round-up of the big news stories from the world of movie superheroes…

After giving us a sneak peek at The Dark Knight Rises back in November, Britain’s Empire Magazine has now turned their attention to The Avengers, delivering plenty of Marvel goodness within the pages of their latest issue. Along with individual covers featuring new shots of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) – the latter giving us our first glimpse of Stark’s new Mark VII suit – and a special subscriber-only cover depicting said heroes assembled, the magazine also includes some interesting quotes from the cast and crew of the $300m blockbuster. Among the highlights was confirmation from Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige that the Red Skull will not make an appearance, with Feige also going on to touch upon the identity of Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) mysterious army: “It's not Skrulls, I've been clear about that. Beyond that, we want to hide it. The identity of the alien race is not impactful. It exists in the comic books, but we're not setting up the Kree-Skrull war or anything like that." Check out ComicBookMovie for a summary of all the info contained in the issue, and head on over to Marvel.com for five new images from the hotly-anticipated ensemble.

Meanwhile, in one final bit of news from The Avengers, English actress and 70s pin-up Jenny Agutter (Logan’s Run, An American Werewolf in London) spoke to the Radio Times about working on the film, with the article indicating that ‘Spider-Man and Iron Man’ were present on Joss Whedon’s set. Now, before everyone gets too excited, you’d have to expect the Spider-Man reference to be a slip of the tongue on Agutter’s part, especially considering that Sony have the movie rights to the character and have The Amazing Spider-Man set for release just two months later. However, seeing as that’s a brand new reboot of the character, is there a chance that Marvel could have thrown a boat load of money Sony’s way for a fan-pleasing cameo from the web-crawler? Sadly, if I was a betting man, I’d have to go with no…

Sticking with the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a moment, we already know that the studio are gearing up to go into production on Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 for release next year, but this past week has brought forth some details that may give us an idea of the two mystery movies they have scheduled for 2014. First up came reports that the proposed Doctor Strange feature is about to become a reality, with Joblo posting the following synopsis: "Doctor Strange centres around a New York surgeon, who stops running his practice after suffering injuries in a car crash. He then becomes a drifter and heads to the Himalayas, where he meets a healer and discovers that he has a great psychic power to fight against evil. Doctor Strange boasts powers that includes telepathy, teleportation, energy and astral projection." Meanwhile Captain America: The First Avenger star Neal McDonough told IMDb TV that Captain America 2 will go into production as soon as Thor wraps, while he also said he hoped to follow that up by reprising the role of Dum Dum Dugan alongside Samuel L. Jackson for the long-rumoured Nick Fury solo movie.

While it's unlikely that we'll be seeing Spider-Man in The Avengers, the friendly neighbourhood web-crawler will of course be swinging onto screens this July and The Times of India have posted a new synopsis for the Marc Webb-directed reboot, which reveals that Oscorp will play an important role in the story: "The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents' disappearance - leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), his father's former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors' alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero." So, if Oscorp is present, does that mean we'll also get a quick cameo from Norman Osborn...?

Now that young actress Joey King has let that cat out of the bag and confirmed that Talia al Ghul is present in The Dark Knight Rises, it would seem that Liam Neeson has thought 'what the hell?' and decided to follow suit by admitting that he'll be back as Ra's al Ghul: "I can tell you nothing about The Dark Knight Rises, seriously. I was on set for maybe an hour-and-a-half and the director didn’t tell me anything of what it’s about. So, I’m being very honest when I say I have no idea what’s going to happen." Meanwhile star Christian Bale has also been speaking about his on-screen alter-ego, explaining to the New York Daily News how he takes inspiration from the Batman: Year One incarnation of the character and - most intriguingly - revealing to Empire that TDKR may not be his final outing under the cape and cowl after all: "All I know is the likelihood that this will be the last one [but] if Chris goes, 'Hey, I've got another story I think could be interesting,' then yeah, great, I'd go do that. I always assumed it would be three, but I could be wrong." Nolan has of course previously stated that The Dark Knight Rises would be his final Batman feature, although he is expected to remain involved in the franchise in a producing capacity for future installments. Could that be enough to tempt Bale back for a fourth time..?

Wrapping up the best of the rest...

...Having settled their legal dispute over the movie rights to The Crow, Relativity Media and The Weinstein Company are pushing on with their plans to reboot the series, with reports emerging that the two studios have hired screenwriter Jesse Wigutow and director Javier Gutiérrez to tackle the remake. The Crow was previously in the hands of 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, with Bradley Cooper signed up for the lead role, although there's no word yet as to whether The Hangover star is in the frame once again...

...In a case of 'what might have been', David Bowie's ex-wife Angela Bowie revealed that she was granted the TV rights to Daredevil and Black Widow for a proposed television series during the 1970s, even going so far as to pose for photographs in character (yes, that really is meant to be the Man Without Fear), while the former model was also considered for the role of Wonder Woman prior to Lynda Carter's casting in 1975...

...Last week it was rumoured that Fox were turning their attention to Chronicle director Josh Trank to helm their proposed Fantastic Four reboot, but according to an interview with Trank in HeyUGuys, he could also be in the frame for the X-Men: First Class sequel, should Matthew Vaughn pass on the project. Asked if he'd be involved in either, Trank refused to deny the speculation, stating that "I have been working on some original ideas and things are being talking about, but nothing’s a signed deal yet..." Be sure to check out the full interview for the director's thoughts on his debut feature, which arrives in UK cinemas on Wednesday...

...Attending the premiere of Daniel Radcliffe's latest film, The Woman in Black, screenwriter Jane Goldman has officially confirmed that neither she nor director Matthew Vaughn will be returning for the sequel to 2010's Kick-Ass: "Matthew is not directing [Kick-Ass 2] so it looks like someone else will write and direct which will be exciting." Could this open the door for Mark Millar to make his directorial debut? He seems to be the only person convinced it's even going to happen...

...In addition to the news that child actors Dylan Sprayberry (Land of the Lost), Jadin Gould (Battle Los Angeles) and Jack Foley (30 Minutes or Less) have joined the cast of Zack Snyder's Man of Steel as young versions of Clark Kent, Lana Lang and Pete Ross respectively, the MoS Facebook page also posted a snap of Henry Cavill posing with a young fan, giving us a pretty good look at his revamped costume...

...The marketing machine on Ghost Rider: Spirt of Vengeance has moved up a gear as the clock ticks down to the arrival of Nicolas Cage's second outing as Johnny Blaze, with Sony releasing a whole host of new images featuring the likes of Cage, Violante Placido, Ciarán Hinds, Johnny Whitworth, Christopher Lambert and Idris Elba, along with a number of TV spots and a short behind-the-scenes feature...

...DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns has spoken briefly about the status of the rumoured Captain Marvel / Shazam movie, stating that there's still hope it could see the light of day: "There's always a possibility for Shazam.... and I can't get into the specifics on that, but yeah, there's hope for Shazam." Something tells me that if the likes of Wonder Woman can't get off the ground, such 'hope' is probably very slim...

...The TV Addict has acquired a casting breakdown for the upcoming Green Arrow - sorry, Arrow - pilot, which includes a couple of familiar names including Dinah Lance, a.k.a. The Black Canary, as well as the following description of the Emeral Archer: "Oliver Queen: A 27-year-old reformed bad boy, who after having spent five years shipwrecked on a tiny, brutally dangerous island in the South China Sea returns to town a different man. Or to be more specific, a tortured, thoughtful master of the bow with a ferocious determination to make a difference..."

...And finally, fans of DC Animation may want to check out this clip from the upcoming direct-to-video animated movie Justice League: Doom, along with the following short from Aardman Animations, which features DC superheroes done in the style of Creature Comforts and will soon be arriving on television as part of Cartoon Network's DC Nation...

Gary Collinson

Holy Franchise, Batman! - Arriving this June.

DVD Review - Cash (2008)

2012-01-27T19:40:00.001Z

Cash (a.k.a. Ca$h), 2008.

Directed by Éric Besnard.
Starring Jean Dujardin, Jean Reno and Valeria Golino.

SYNOPSIS:

A master thief attempts to pull off the biggest robbery in history.

The current awards season (2011/12) has been most kind for Jean Durjardin, following his star making performance in The Artist. It’s a wonderful film and a dazzling lead performance. As such, this little known (on these shores anyway) French film from 2008 finally procures itself a DVD release here. Undoubtedly a move to cash in on the critical success of The Artist, this film is an interesting look at the talented star before the big time beckoned.

Durjardin stars as the titular character Cash. He’s a conman and master thief, whose brother was killed on a previous gig. Cash continues scamming where he can. The film is a caper, with twist upon turn. Who’s playing who? Who has the upper hand? It’s all about sleight of hand, misconception, deception and Cash is a master. As the plot motors on, he pits his wits with or against fellow master thief Maxi (Jean Reno) and morally obtuse cop, Julia (Valeria Golino). The film steams through quickly, with sometimes one too many twists and turns to keep up with, but the conclusion is satisfying and the journey entertaining enough.

The cast are very good. If you’ve seen a fair amount of French cinema, you’ll recognise many of the faces. Dujardin leads well. The effortless charisma he displayed in The Artist is clear to see here. It might not be a role with as much depth here, but never the less, he delivers. Jean Reno is reliable as ever. Golino is good, whilst Ciaran Hinds manages to steal his scenes and make his extended cameo memorable.

Technically the film looks good, polished and stylish. The direction from Éric Besnard is vibrant and the editing though sometimes a little too intrusive, adds to the caper element of this. The film feels like a mish-mash of modern film and 60s cinematic style. Bresnard's script is decent enough, though the characterisation is limited in some cases, but probably intentionally as certainly in Reno and Golino’s cases, their characters don’t want to give too much away. Dujardin is allowed to offer us more insight into his characters core, and as lead, it’s what matters. Occasionally the film borders on being too elaborate and a bit far- fetched, but again, it’s not a particularly serious film and it’s never too bothersome. Come the end it sticks together well enough, and certainly manages to keep one step ahead of the audience.

In all this won’t go down as a classic, but it’s a good slice of entertainment. There’s plenty of star power on show and fans, or indeed new found fans, of Dujardin, will find enough here to keep them entertained.

Tom Jolliffe

365 Days, 100 Films #93 - Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011)

2012-01-27T12:50:00.000Z

Bobby Fischer Against the World, 2011.

Directed by Liz Garbus.

SYNOPSIS:

A documentary about arguably the greatest chess player of the 20th Century.

Bobby Fischer cuts an awkward figure. Even at the chessboard he seems to be in pain, sitting lopsided to the right, his torso sharply angled into the chair and his head supported by an open palm. If Bobby didn’t appear so deadly serious, you could slap a moustache above his top lip and call him Groucho.

The muscles in his face visibly tense as he attempts to smile in television interviews. In one he sweats so profusely that beads spot across his forehead.

But for all his social retardation, you can’t help but admire his passion and the way his mind whirs when observing the black and white pieces in front of him, calculating moves at a rate beyond most human comprehension. But that mind was fragile as well as formidable. And he became engulfed by the larger chess game of the era, one between the United States and the U.S.S.R. – the Cold War.

Bobby Fischer Against the World pays most attention to the period of his career that typified that international tension – the 1972 World Chess Championship against the holder, a Russian, Boris Spassky. The archive footage of the match and various news reports are accompanied with a wide range of talking heads; some big and unnecessary, like Henry Kissinger; some tiny and pivotal, like Bobby’s Icelandic bodyguard, Saemi Palsson, who would later be the subject of another documentary, Me & Bobby Fischer.

They don’t always know exactly where to look. Some stare to the right of the camera, where the interviewer is presumably seated, others glare directly down it. There’s something unnerving about a biographer looking right at you.

Jump cuts are occasionally used during these talking head shots. For a documentary filmed so conventionally, these cuts don’t quite make sense and could have been easily avoided by showing archive footage in their place, or perhaps zooming in on a still, black and white photograph – a technique with which the filmmakers appear to be obsessed.

The structure lazily avoids narrative satisfaction and is split into chapters, all with chess-pun names. Which would all be forgivable, if it weren’t for the title card Photoshop jobs. The font looks like the bastard offspring of Time New Roman and a cheap, italicised comic sans whore, and the background appears to have been sourced from typing ‘chessboard’ into Google, circa 1999.

As Bobby struggles during the 1972 World Chess Championship, the documentary intelligently splinters off to explore the tangent of his wayward mother, hippy activist Regina Fischer. This history was only hinted at previously, and worked within the narrative to ‘flashback’ to Bobby’s unconventional upbringing. It goes some way to explaining why Bobby is like he is. The rest of the documentary, however, orders itself either chronologically or mundanely.

But despite the filmmakers’ best efforts, the story of Bobby Fischer is a remarkable one, and the 1972 World Chess Championship is a historic moment in the game. The old grandmasters talking to the camera can barely withhold their admiration and awe when describing that match’s 6th game. A symphony of placid beauty, one of them eloquently described it as. At its end, even Spassky stood up and applauded. This isn’t shown, as Bobby demanded that the match was played without cameras present, but the way it’s described. Oh boy, it’s like you were there.

“Genius or madman?” is the question Bobby Fischer Against the World proposes throughout. Perhaps you need to be one to fuel the other, and Bobby certainly seemed to embody both throughout his life. But once the 1972 World Championship was over, he rapidly descended into the latter, sacrificing his genius to cult-like religious organisations and paranoid conspiracy theories. A pariah, a Jewish anti-Semite, his old, blotchy face looks like another person’s.

The story of Bobby Fischer and that remarkable match redeems what is otherwise a below-average documentary.

RATING **

Oli Davis

365 Days, 100 Films

Films To Watch Before You Die #55 - Bad Boys (1995)

2012-01-27T07:26:00.001Z

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

Bad Boys, 1995.

Directed by Michael Bay.
Starring Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Téa Leoni, Joe Pantoliano and Theresa Randle.

Bad Boys is the directorial debut of Michael Bay and since the majority of his films have the same shots recycled over and over again maybe it’s the only one of his films with any visual originality, but is great fun nonetheless.

The film is an action comedy that sees Miami cops Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and Mike Lowry (Smith) trying to uncover $100 million of heroin stolen from a police vault. The seized drugs need to be recovered within five days or Internal Affairs warn that the narcotics division of the Miami-Dade Police Force will be shut down. When escort Max is hired for a party and takes along her flat mate Julie (Leoni) what is meant to be a good time soon turns bad when French drug lord Fouchet kills the host of the party, ex-cop Eddie, and then Max.

Unsure where to turn Julie tries to contact Max’s friend on the force, Mike Lowry. However, with Lowry unavailable Marcus has to pose as his partner and find the girl before Fouchet gets to her. Needing to put her in a safe place Marcus takes her to Mike’s flat where she hides out with her dogs, who shit on Mike’s expensive rug. Mike and Marcus try to solve the crime and pretend to be each other as well as keep Julie under control in order to recover the drugs and save their own arses.

Bad Boys is full of over the top shootouts, car chases and hilarious quips and banter between the two partners. Bay’s debut was a huge box office success on a modest budget, but received mixed reviews from critics. The film is criticised as recycling old cop film clichés and stealing plenty of characters and plot lines from a range of other cop movies. In all honesty it was never going to win an Oscar and isn’t exactly the most magnificent film ever made, but it is great fun to watch if you want to switch off your brain.

Bad Boys is a film you must see before you die because of the on screen chemistry between Smith and Lawrence is pretty good. Apparently Bay wasn’t entirely happy with the script and the dialogue so allowed his two main actors to improvise. Despite his pitfalls as a director this was a pretty good decision and Smith and Lawrence, who are petty fun in their own rights, managed to bring to life the dialogue and allow for some great on screen fun.

D.J. Haza

Follow my blog at http://djhaza.blogspot.com/
Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/djhaza

Thoughts on... Final Destination 5 (2011)

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000Z

Final Destination 5, 2011.

Directed by Steven Quale.
Starring Nicholas D'Agosto, Emma Bell, Miles Fisher, Arlen Escarpeta, David Koechner
and Tony Todd.

SYNOPSIS:

A group of co-workers face a race against time to escape Death's sinister agenda after they survive a terrifying suspension bridge collapse.

For the last 11 years we’ve watched people get sliced, decapitated, hung, stabbed, impaled, and blown up, among other things, in the Final Destination series. What else could they possibly do in a 5th movie?

Like the first four movies we get someone who has a vision of a horrible accident about to happen and then rescues his friends, and possibly other, from the situation only to have death hunt them down and try to finish what he started. This time around we have Sam played by Fired Up’s Nicholas D’Agosto. He sees that him and his friends are supposed to die in a horrific bridge collapse, but safely gets a handful of his friends off their bus before it happens. Along for the ride are The Walking Dead’s Emma Bell, Tom Cruise look-a-like Miles Fisher, the Friday the 13th remake’s Arlen Escarpeta, Anchorman’s David Koechner, and a slew of people you’ve probably never seen before. As the movie progresses one by one they start to die in the order they would have in the accident they all avoided. Once they learn that death is out to get them they try to do whatever they can to avoid death once more.

In more ways than not this is exactly like the first four movies. Same set-up, characters you don’t care about, bad acting, death’s pattern is the same, etc. They do try and bring back what made the first two movies in the franchise entertaining and fun but they don’t end up executing it well enough. A lot of the deaths still feel very cartoonish because of the heavy CGI on most of them and the 3D adds nothing to any of the deaths.

They do try to add some small things that differ from the previous movies. For instance, if you kill someone who wasn’t already supposed to die then that would cancel out your death and you’d be off the hook. Also what they do with the ending I thought was very creative. I won’t spoil anything but they do find a nice way to tie in this movie with the first movie. While I did like the ending I did not like the, literally, last two minutes because they go out of their way to do something that is just even more ridiculous than most of the deaths in the movie.

As far as the acting goes your not going to find anyone here who is giving a good performance. All of the kids are mostly hamming it up every second their on camera and David Koechner is clearly there just for the comic relief. We get a pointless character in an agent, played by Courtney B. Vance, who is interested in finding out what is happening to these people that survived the bridge accident. Tony Todd makes a cameo appearance that isn’t much but he at least tries in his very short amount of screen time.

The deaths I found to be pretty weak. They actually started off great with the first death but then turned into great build-ups and then blowing it on the actual death. Most of the deaths don’t look too good either because they are all CG and it just makes them look too unreal. Had they at least maybe tried to use some practical effects I think the deaths would have had more impact that just looking like a cartoon.

All in all this movie does have some entertaining moments and the ending, except for the final two minutes, is done really well. It’s not as good as the first two movies in the franchise but it definitely beats part three, and is leagues better than part four.

Jake Peffer

The Comedy Critic - Steven Spielberg's 'Phwoar Horse'

2012-01-27T06:45:00.001Z

Adam Hollingworth casts a satirical eye over Steven Spielberg's War Horse...

There have been many great love stories in the history of cinema. Rick and Ilsa in Casablanca, Rhett and Scarlet in Gone with the Wind, Yuri and Lyra in Doctor Zhivago. Well, this week saw the addition of another great screen romance added to this swooning pantheon, a story of two lovers whose mutual desire and affection transcends the fear and horror of wartime. This love is of course between the heavily-accented country bumpkin Albert and his horse Joey in Spielberg’s latest film War Horse.

This isn’t the first time a sweet bestial romance has attained the kind of colossal momentousness afforded to mere human couples. Indeed, some could read the history of cinema as a sweeping chronicle of man’s growing affection for fitties of the animal kingdom. Oscar favourite The Artist is acutely aware of this fact, portraying as it does the unfaltering romance between a movie star and his dog in the form of a silent film, harking back to the early days of cinema when such affairs were more commonplace and less frowned upon by the law. Where is Valentin’s lady-friend Peppy when his house is burning down with him lying unconscious in it? That’s right; she’s hoarding all his belongings in a mansion paid for with the money accumulated from a career he kick-started for her. Typical gold-digger. The dog is left to save his life. And if it seems unlikely that any man would prefer the amorous affections of a dog to the gorgeous Berenice Bejo, consider that the man in question here is French. Enough said.

Dogs and other small animals have always been man’s best friend though (apart from deer, which if Disney is to be believed are much more likely to be shot), so cinema has always reflected this closeness, for example the heartfelt, childhood-scarring moment when Old Yeller is shot in the face. This is not merely the loss of a friend, but of a true loved one. Kids have got to learn it all from somewhere after all. In any case, it wasn’t long before men and women were hankering for beasts of a somewhat larger nature. Take King Kong for instance. It is still a common misconception that Fay Wray is screaming in terror when a big, strong ape squeezes her tightly in his hairy fist. They are clearly screams of ecstasy, and later on screams of sheer delight at the bravery of her partner in defending her honour from the lecherous advances of creepy crawlies and dinosaurs. Peter Jackson took this even further, and to his credit realised the whole love story with a touch more romance and tenderness than the original. After all, what girl wouldn’t go weak at the knees at the prospect of a private ice-skate around the frozen pool of central park? Kong might be a savage murderer, but that’s no excuse for interrupting his date with a frankly excessive amount of army trucks and rocket launchers. Girls in the thirties just weren’t cut out for that kind of excitement.

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that War Horse takes a leaf out of the Airplane! book of horse-loving, but with slightly less off-hand callousness. Albert wouldn’t take off for an emergency in the middle of the night without planting a sensual good-night kiss on Joey’s nose, especially knowing what we do about a horse’s natural anatomical advantages over humans. When angry they can be dangerous lovers, and my mate once watched a really dodgy video proving it.

It is odd that such a breath-taking film should come from the likes of Steven Spielberg. Not only is the closest he’s come to pure screen romance between a young child and a clearly diseased long-necked alien, but for my money he hasn’t made anything worthy of his talents for nearly twenty years. In 1993, you see, he released both Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List. The former was always going to be a triumph, being precisely the kind of escapist rollicking adventure he had at that point specialised in since the early seventies. The latter was a much more unlikely success, but lightning truly struck and Spielberg, against all the odds, created to this day the most emotively powerful and sensitive, not to mention artful, fictional cinematic Holocaust piece. This in turn caused Spielberg to miss the boat: he stopped making fantastical adventures and started making worthy serious films, and in the process forgot how to do the former genre well (witness as testament to this the abysmal fourth Indiana Jones film). Instead of making really fun films every agreed were brilliant, we instead got the saccharine A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the terminally dull Munich, and the over-long and more importantly over-rated Saving Private Ryan (the first half an hour is admittedly gruelling and ground-breaking, but the film’s three hours long and most of that is about saving Matt Damon from certain death. Just let him die for god’s sake!)

However, whilst the woeful dead-behind-the-eyes The Adventures of Tintin forbids me from hailing War Horse as a return to form for Spielberg just yet, it is nonetheless an impressively moving and beautiful film. The problems with the often plodding episodic plot are issues with the novel and not with the film, but at their best these narrative tangents effectively illustrate the futility and poignancy of World War One, for example when a British and German soldier combine forces and friendly banter to cut Joey free from barbed wire. Janus Kaminski’s photography is utterly gorgeous, leading to some sublime image-making, from the soldiers mounting their steeds in a wheat-field to the dusky-red return of Joey to Dorset which recalls the close of Gone with the Wind. John Williams’ music is similarly superb, sacrificing memorable leit motifs for a score which complements the emotional dynamic of each scene of the film. Most importantly, it’s really well directed. Spielberg’s staging is uniformly excellent, with some scenes leaving an indelible impression, such as the execution obscured by the rotors of a windmill, and an evocation of trench warfare that is as intense, though not as brutal, as the celebrated D-Day landings battle in the aforementioned WW2 snore-fest.

Oh, and the horse is pretty good too.

Adam Hollingworth

Spielberg set to direct Moses epic Gods and Kings

2012-01-26T18:58:00.000Z

Steven Spielberg (War Horse, Schindler’s List) is close to signing on to direct a Braveheart-esque version of the story of Moses for Warner Bros. The film, which has a working title of Gods and Kings, will include him forming an army, freeing the Hebrew slaves, wandering in the wilderness, receiving the Ten Commandments and parting the Red Sea.

Michael Green (Green Lantern) and Stuart Hazeldine (Exam) have penned the script and the film will have a gritty and realistic tone similar to Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. The studio first showed Spielberg the script back in September and talks have now intensified. It is expected that he will officially agree to direct soon and if he does sign on, the movie will likely start filming in early 2013.

Spieleberg is currently working hard on two other films, having just finished shooting Lincoln with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jared Harris, while also starting to make the robot uprising movie Robopocalypse.

Emma Hutchings

Movie Review - Megan is Missing (2011)

2012-01-26T15:40:00.000Z

Megan is Missing, 2011.

Directed by Michael Goi.
Starring Amber Perkins, Rachel Quinn and Dean White.

SYNOPSIS:

Megan is an outgoing, confident 14-year-old whilst her best friend, Amy, 13, is not so self-assured. Megan meets a boy online, Josh, and agrees to meet him. Next thing Amy knows, Megan is gone. In pursuit of finding her best friend, Amy tells the police about Josh – but then Amy goes missing too…

Megan is Missing has caused some controversy since its release, banned in New Zealand for ‘glorifying young sexuality’. Elsewhere, mothers are taking away their children’s computers, outright banning them from spending time on the Internet.

The debate about protecting children from the Web is pretty controversial in itself. We have come to rely on technology and connecting to the Internet for all manner of reasons, be them completely innocent, like checking a fact for homework, or something a lot more sinister like ‘Josh’ has in mind. However, whatever anyone’s views on letting their children access the world wide web, Megan is Missing is a shocking story to make you think.

We follow the 14 year old Megan, not particularly a likeable character – but we see she does have a nicer side which she hides to avoid tarnishing her popularity with the ‘cool kids’ who drink, smoke drugs and have a good time. Megan is introduced to Josh, a faceless online ‘friend’ who claims his webcam is busted by his brother, and then chewed by his dog. You’d be sceptical right? Ok, well set your mind back to your early teens and tell me you wouldn’t just carry on chatting to kill the time. It’s a worrying thing, many of us may have chatted to any sort of person when we went through that phase of chatting to people online – and if you think I’m being unrealistic, just look at the popularity of Chat Roulette and other such forums.

Anyway, Megan agrees to meet with Josh – he seems shy, after seeing her at a party and being too nervous to say hello. The two arrange to meet behind a diner – and that’s the last Amy hears from her best friend. Anxious to find out the truth, she chats to Josh who very quickly turns aggressive, and before long is tailing Amy to teach her a lesson for blabbing to the police.

Megan is Missing works to a pretty strong degree in telling us that chatting to strangers is definitely not safe online. It may seem harmless, but meeting up with them is also not a particularly wise move. No one would like to think they are naïve enough to agree to meet someone they’ve spoken to online, but the sad truth is that it happens all the time. Megan’s character may seem a little emphasised and quite unlike anyone you know – but Megan’s do exist, and even those less confident, and less damaged by their past, are still willing to agree to meet with seemingly harmless online friends, who could be as perverted as the predator in this film.

Preaching aside, the film takes an interesting stance on technology. Acting as a compilation of mobile phone video footage (a la IPhones Facetime), alongside news reports and video camera footage, Megan is Missing creates a documentary that takes you to pretty dark places. It’s mostly well-thought out and put together, but a minor gripe I have with this film is its dealings with news reports. I have a limited idea on how US news reports are put together – they do tend to use more visual elements like graphics and cheesy transition effects, but the use of them in the film looks more like parody as opposed to replication, which doesn’t really sit well alongside the sinister subject matter.

The acting in the film is great, Amber Perkins as Amy Herman is a particular highlight. Although some scenes seem to linger a little too long and not seemingly with the intention to discomfort, generally the story plays out effectively. The marketing of Megan is Missing is quite interesting too, as it claims to be a fictional drama ‘based on real events’ – whether this is an amalgamation of cases of child abduction, or replicates a particular case, I am unsure.

Get hold of this DVD and watch for a thought-provoking look at the web, and check out the extras for a shocking statement from Marc Klaas, the owner of Klaas Kids, a foundation which aids parents with missing children – as he himself had a young daughter abducted, raped and killed.

Cat Fyson

Films To Watch Before You Die #54 - The Hurt Locker (2009)

2012-01-26T07:22:00.000Z

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

The Hurt Locker, 2009.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
Starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Evangeline Lilly, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse and Guy Pearce.

The Hurt Locker is the gritty tale of a three-man bomb disposal team in the United States Army during the Iraq War. With every day being possibly their last as they dispose of hidden and improvised bombs around the dangerous streets of Baghdad the three of them need to work closely together. Sergeant J.T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge guard their new team leader Sergeant First Class William James as he works to disarm the IEDs.

However, James is a bit of a wild card and a maverick. His reckless actions and who cares attitude make his team nervous and tensions mount. As each of them try to deal with the ordeal of their job and the possibility of being blown to bits every time they leave the base they clash regularly. Each of them want to make it out Iraq in one piece and count down the days until the tour is over, but for James the rush is irreplaceable and normal life just doesn’t cut it for him anymore.

The Hurt Locker is a tense and edge of your seat movie that brings home the constant threat of death that plagues soldiers whose jobs it is to disarm bombs in a war zone. The constant tension is enough to drive any person mad and the strain shows on the soldiers. Although some critics and veterans have condemned the film as not being realistic enough, they have admitted that it does more than most other modern films to bring the reality of war to audiences. The main criticism is that the uniforms, lack of radio communication and bad behaviour of the soldiers would not be found in such situations, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story?

The Hurt Locker is a film you must see before you die because Kathryn Bigelow’s low budget film earned her an Oscar for Best Director and she became the first woman to win in that particular category. With a budget of only $15 million it is the lowest grossing film to ever win the Best Picture Oscar and fought off competition from Bigelow's ex-husband, James Cameron, and his immensely expensive film Avatar. A triumph in my eyes for substance over grossly expensive special effects as it was nominated for 9 Oscars and won 6.

D.J. Haza

Follow my blog at http://djhaza.blogspot.com/
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Second Opinion - Carnage (2011)

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000Z

Carnage, 2011.

Directed by Roman Polanski.
Starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly.

SYNOPSIS:

Two sets of parents meet to discuss the matter of one child assaulting another. Things steadily go from bad to worse.

Everything about Carnage is quite simple, both the plusses and minuses. I know it’s early in the game to say this, but Carnage might be one of my favourites of the year. Now I know that’s also starting off on a high note, so I’ll be sure to bring it all back down by the end, but first the good aspects.

Taking a look at the film’s synopsis, you might get a bit bored. There isn’t really much more in terms of spoilers than can be discovered by watching the trailer or reading a review. The idea ‘four people talk about their children and by the way they don’t ever leave the home for the entire film, no really, not even to talk to the neighbours’ might sound boring but the time does, to form a cliché, just fly by. I’m sure the short eighty minute runtime helps, but there wasn’t ever a point of my mind wandering or wondering if the story was ever going to end.

The film’s simplicity and short time does have its downfalls. The characters aren’t ever shown under a bright spotlight in terms of their background, apart from one character’s mother calling. The lack of outside influence (the nearest anyone gets to leaving is pressing the button for the lift) and any other prominent characters makes the film feel like a theatre production. This is neither a positive or a negative; it just shows that the movie doesn’t completely abandon the feeling and ideas from the play Le Dieu du Carnage, which Yasmina Reza also wrote.

This other mark of simplicity would fall flat on its backside if the performances and script weren’t up to scratch. Nothing is ever used to wake the audience up, no cheap tricks used to keep the audience’s attention. And that’s what I enjoyed most about the film. The script isn’t laugh a minute (it defines the word ‘dramedy’), but what comedy there is is fantastic. Each character brings along their own worldview and baggage to create tension.

Each cast member gives a great performance. And, I think importantly, no one actor or character is overshadowed by another. You understand one point of view, even if an absolute bastard is bringing it across. Speaking of, contrary to what I just said, I think a little special praise has to go to John C. Reilly.

Despite never fulfilling my wish of saying the words ‘For your health!’ (Internet trawlers will be aware of this other fine, nuanced Reilly performance), the character journey of Michael Longstreet is probably the most fun. Reilly seems to revel in the part, enjoying starting off as a sheep that attempts to make everyone happy, eventually devolving into a booze swilling, cigar smoking git. But that’s just personal preference. Christoph Waltz looks, at times, like he could quite easily kill someone with his bare hands. Kate Winslet throws up everywhere. And Jodie Foster breaks down over art books and aftershave. There’s something for everyone!

Each character’s ups and downs just show that, as said by the characters in the film, that everybody lies. Not to be all Gregory House about it, but the journey of Michael is the prime example. As one thread is discovered, everything starts to unravel for the characters. Because of the lack of time with the characters, you don’t feel as emotionally involved. But this probably helps as you laugh with and at everyone.

The fact that there is only surface shown throughout the film, despite the revelations of each character, means that there isn’t a deep life lesson or moral to be taken from this movie. Which is a great thing. The film doesn’t try to teach you anything; it just shows these four people as they are. The obvious message is that parents are as bad, sometimes worse, than their kids. The final shot displays this easily enough without any of the characters expressing it outright. But as hinted earlier, it’s the typical message you could have gotten just by reading the synopsis or watching the trailer.

The enjoyment comes from seeing these four people break down. Nothing truly horrible happens. Nothing extreme happens. Carnage just shows people suffering from everyday problems. A spouse who spends a little too much time on the phone instead of raising their child. A spouse who tries to make everyone feel better and doesn’t actually stand up for anyone. Typical problems we may all come across. Carnage might actually be a great movie to watch, a simple story, before the leotard wearing super beings of the summer blockbusters come along and make everything explode.

Matt Smith

365 Days, 100 Films #92 - The Unforgiven (1960)

2012-01-25T19:40:00.000Z

The Unforgiven, 1960.

Directed by John Huston.
Starring Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, Audie Murphy, Doug McClure, John Saxon, Charles Bickford and Lillian Gish.

SYNOPSIS:

A strange old man and a local tribe of Indians start to bother the Zacharys. They claim the Zacharys have something of theirs – a baby girl snatched from them many years ago.

The grave of William Zachary sits in the family’s front yard – a small mound of soil with a modest, wooden cross at its top. At first it appears as a sign of pride, the family’s tribute to their father, a man slain by an Indian arrow. However, as their history unravels before the townsfolk and assorted cowboys, the cross becomes a constant reminder of the mess with which he left them, and the lurking presence of death.

It isn’t the only reminder of death. An old man (Joseph Wiseman) with a sabre has been frequently sighted near the Zacharys’ home, his tall hat casting a disquieting silhouette amongst the reeds. His face is difficult to make out, obscured either by the piercing sun or a wild dust storm. Everyone can hear his God-fearing voice, though. He claims to be an agent of the Lord. He isn’t a man who will simply fade away and die, Ben Zachary (Burt Lancaster) remarks to his brother. He’s the kinda man who needs to be killed.

Ben, as the eldest brother, has positioned himself as the head of the Zachary household. There’s also his mother, Mattilda (Lillian Gish), younger brothers, Cash (Audie Murphy) and Andy (Doug McClure), and adopted sister, Rachel Zachary (Audrey Hepburn). They’re a relatively wealthy, much liked and respected family amongst their Ol’ West community. Until that old man comes claiming Rachel has Indian blood coursing through her veins.

The characters’ prejudice against Indians is fierce in a way similar to Ethan Edwards in The Searchers. Ben and the rest of his men are openly racist towards Johnny Portugal (John Saxon), their best horse tamer, but an Indian all the same. Cash is the most aggressive. He has harboured a grudge since an Indian murdered his father.

The old man’s claims are damaging to the Zacharys’ reputation, and a local tribe have taken interest in Rachel. She might be the long lost sister of one of their men. All this makes the cowboys anxious. They’ve a lot of money tied up in these here cattle, and they don’t want no Indian raiders jeopardising their investments.

In the film’s finest scene, the Zacharys and their men capture the old man. He’s revealed as Abe Kelsey, an old friend of their father who has since gone crazy. He’s brought into their outback court at night, illuminated by torch fire. It’s the first chance you get to really study the man’s face. He’s covered in dust, making the lines in his face look considerably deeper, and one eye appears to be entirely black. With a noose around his neck, he explains his delusional crusade against the Zacherys, his version of the truth skewered by grief, revenge and hate. He speaks with the same fluency and flow of Michael Parks’ preacher in Red State.

John Huston, the film’s director, originally intended The Unforgiven to make a statement about racism in America. He constantly fought the film’s financers, who demanded a less controversial movie. The result is neither a commercial film, nor one that completely tackles racism. Huston would later recall that it’s the only one of his films that he dislikes.

But although the film doesn’t make a statement about racism, the subject still haunts every frame. Rather than propose a socio-political message, racism is made part of the characters and their relationships. Sometimes this is in a purely hateful way, as in Cash. But others are far more complex. Ben flickers between camaraderie and conflict with Portugal, whereas the bond between Rachel and the Indian claiming to be her brother is tragic. Racism is never glorified, but it is portrayed. Doing it that way rings more true to the era.

When the film ends, none of the characters come across as heroic, much like their counterparts a few years later in the Spaghetti Westerns. Instead they look up at the sky, alone in the cold, hard West.

RATING ****

Oli Davis

365 Days, 100 Films

The Crow remake prepares to take flight

2012-01-25T15:41:00.000Z

Earlier this week Relativity Media and The Weinstein Company issued a press release to announce that they'd reached an out-of-court settlement over the legal dispute concerning the rights to The Crow and now comes word that the two studios are pushing on with their plans to reboot the series. According to Deadline, scriptwriter Jesse Wigutow (It Runs in the Family) has signed on to tackle the screenplay, while Variety are also reporting that F. Javier Gutiérrez (Before the Fall) will handle directing duties.

Based upon James O'Barr's underground comic book series, The Crow first came to the screen in 1994 under director Alex Proyas, with the film becoming notable for the accidental death of star Brandon Lee on set. Following the success of the first movie, The Crow then spawned three sequels - The Crow: City of Angels (with Vincent Pérez), The Crow: Salvation (with Eric Mabius) and The Crow: Wicked Prayer (with Edward Furlong) - along with the television series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, featuring Mark Dacascos.

Rumours of a remake first surfaced in 2008 when it was reported that director Stephen Norrington (Blade, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman) planned to oversee a new take on the story. After Relativity Media acquired the rights, 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was brought on board last year, with The Hangover star Bradley Cooper then signing on for the title role before the project hit the rocks.

Given that, outside of the original movie, The Crow franchise hasn't really set the world alight, is there really anyone out there who wants to see another?

Image Conscious: A conversation with visual effects supervisor Bruce Woloshyn

2012-01-25T07:48:00.000Z

Trevor Hogg chats to the visual effects supervisor Bruce Woloshyn...

“I originally was a broadcast technical director doing NHL hockey and CFL football,” recalls Method Studios Visual Effects Supervisor Bruce Woloshyn who decided to make a career change. “I was at NAB [National Association of Broadcasters] in Las Vegas one year when Discreet Logic first came out with Flame. I was so floored with what I saw. I went back to the hotel, got my wife, and dragged her down to the convention centre. I said, ‘I’m going to work for whoever is going to buy me one of those.’ I was already working at a really advanced commercial facility in Seattle. It was six months later when Bob Scarabelli approached me to come to Vancouver to help start Rainmaker Digital Pictures and we were going to buy two Flames.” The native of North Battleford, Saskatchewan believes that there have been two major changes in the visual effects industry. “One of them is going from analog to digital technology. When I first started the best high end effects were all in television commercials because there’s nothing more expensive per-finished-second than a TV ad. The other biggest thing is processing power and storage. The other day I got a disk space report saying something to the effect that we were utilizing some ungodly amount. It was like 87 terabytes or something like that. All I could think of when we started Rainmaker was that, ‘Who the hell would need a terabyte?’”

“When the tsunami hit Japan it was evident pretty quickly that all of the high definition videotape in the world was made in one place,” recounts Bruce Woloshyn as the issue became a significant concern during business meetings. “Sony couldn’t make HD Cam tape because its factory had been damaged; there was now a finite supply of the industry standard in broadcast videotape.” Having at least one playback machine for each of the various digital videotape formats contributes to Method Studios keeping pace with the rapid advancement of technology. “We need to have all the leading edge stuff to do the leading edge work. When you start with a certain technology on a big project often times by the time the project is over you wouldn’t have thought to use it because there would be something better.” Advancements can happen within a year or even six months resulting in complications when creating a technology for a specific project. “We’re only tied to something for as long as we’re working on a show. The second that’s show is over you’re already thinking of using the next thing.”

“We go and gather lighting references with gray and chrome balls,” states Bruce Woloshyn who makes use of HDRs (High Dynamic Range images) when constructing a 360 degree view of the whole set “so we know exactly where the lights were and how they were placed.” Assisting the effort to blend in the visual effects into the actual footage are reports detailing the body, lens, and positioning of the various cameras. “When pre-vizing shots to be filmed in New York for Man on a Ledge [2012] all of the tools we used in Maya were based on what they would have with them on location. We made little artificial cranes and lighting rigs. That’s not always the case because one of the things you have in your visual effects arsenal is the ability to do anything. When you’re trying to make it look like you didn’t do anything, staying true to what could be done on set is key.” The situation is different when dealing with a stylized reality. “I spent years doing the fantasy world thing for the Stargate [Showtime, Sci-Fi Channel, 1997 to 2007] franchise. It’s a little bit easier in a sense that I used to say to the guys, ‘We just need to make it look cool. It doesn’t need to look real.’” Woloshyn is quick to point out “that the number one thing to come first is the story.”

“My background isn’t acting so much,” readily admits Bruce Woloshyn. “I’m privy to be extras in all kinds of things; it’s only because I’m familiar with the creative powers on the show and its fun.” Providing the cast with verbal and image references is important in enabling them to visualize the scope and scale of the scene. “I know years ago people were worried that the advancement in digital technology meant that we weren’t going to need actors and I was thinking, ‘That’s crazy talk.’ We’re always going to need actors because they are the embodiment of the characters.” In regards to the medium utilized in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011), Woloshyn observes, “Although motion-capture to make characters is very effective, it is also much more expensive than having the actor perform. It’s the reason why an animated feature price-per-finished-second is significantly more than a live-action feature.”

“When we were doing Breaking Dawn – Part 1 [2011] at the studio here, it was the only film we were working on that wasn’t being done in stereo,” reveals Bruce Woloshyn. “3D takes longer and everything costs more to do it right. I’ve worked on standard pictures which have had the stereo process applied to them later. We’ve also had a bunch of native stereo shows.” Avatar (2009) is an example of 3D being used effectively. “That story benefited from having stereo applied to it, whereas with other movies does it make a difference? Would it make the story better? I don’t know.” Woloshyn remarks, “It is a gimmick and sometimes a gimmick is fun. I can remember taking my kids to see Monsters vs. Aliens [2009] and absolutely, they did lots of gimmicky work but it was part of that type of movie.”

“I’m one of those guys who do not believe in having me between production and the crew,” states Bruce Woloshyn. “I try to do all the things as a supervisor that I wanted to have done when I was an artist.” The Canadian-born VFX supervisor remains connected to his early days in the industry. “My office is equipped with Nuke and Inferno. I still do lots of my own concept work then hand those files off, and go, ‘This is what I was thinking.’” Woloshyn has a hard time imagining the roles of the production designer and the visual effects supervisor merging into a single job. “I don’t know, especially, on jobs of significant scale that would be hard. I’m working on a movie right now with four visual effects supervisors in the same building because the project is so big.” Even though the memory capacity of computers increases this is not the case with the human mind. “We’re riding on the edge of that right now.” He adds, “Visual effects is a team sport and I’m blessed here in Vancouver at Method to have an amazing team.”

Many thanks to Bruce Woloshyn for taking the time out of his schedule for this interview.

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

Films To Watch Before You Die #53 - The Matrix (1999)

2012-01-25T07:26:00.000Z

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

The Matrix, 1999.

Directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski.
Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano.

The Matrix is one of the most iconic films in the modern era and itself draws on iconic films and genres of the passed such as Spaghetti Westerns, Hong Kong cinema, dystopian fiction and Japanese animation. The film references several subcultures including cyberpunk and hacking as well as touching upon religion and philosophy.

The Matrix follows Thomas Anderson (Reeves), whose computer name is Neo, as the truth of the world in which he lives is made clear to him by Morpheus (Fishburne). It is revealed that the world in which Neo has been living is in fact a simulated reality that sentient machines have created in order to harvest energy from the humans that they farm. Huge fields of humans lay dormant and wired into this simulated reality in order to keep their minds pacified. Morpheus and his band of rebels live in the real world, but are able to link themselves into The Matrix in order to fight against the machines programs and free people such as Neo.

Morpheus believes that Neo is the chosen one and will be the one to free all mankind of the machines. As Neo embarks on war with the machines he is trained by Morpheus in ways of combating the machines in the simulated world and how the boundaries that Neo realises in reality can be overcome within The Matrix. However, no one has ever battled against Agent Smith (Weaving) and won, with the computer program being able to manipulate the world of The Martix more than anyone else is able to.

As the rebels battle for survival and freedom they fight against the Agents within The Matrix and sentinel machines in the real world. Neo isn’t sure he is the chosen one that Morpheus thinks he is, but maybe that’s just what he needs to think in order to fulfill his destiny?

The Matrix is a film you must see before you die because it helped move forward and popularise ‘bullet time’ visual effects. ‘Bullet time’ is the art of allowing a camera to seemingly spin around a character of event at normal speed whilst the action unfolds in slow motion. Some of the effects used in the film were truly mind blowing at the time and still hold up to modern day effects.

D.J. Haza

Follow my blog at http://djhaza.blogspot.com/
Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/djhaza

Thoughts on... Warrior (2011)

2012-01-25T07:02:00.000Z

Warrior, 2011.

Directed by Gavin O'Connor.
Starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Morrison and Nick Nolte.

SYNOPSIS:

Two brothers find themselves on a collision course in the biggest 'winner takes all' Mixed Martial Arts event in history.

It would seem that about every year or so we get an inspirational sports movie. Some usually do the same tired thing we’ve seen a thousand times before while others do things we’ve seen before but in a really spectacular way. Which way does Warrior try and test its luck with?

We start with Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy); he’s recently returned home and visits his father Paddy, played wonderfully by Nick Nolte, who he hasn’t seen in about fourteen years. He wants his dad to help him train to fight in a mixed martial arts tournament coming up soon. Paddy reluctantly accepts to try and help his boy as well as possibly grow closer with him since he’s been out of his life for so long. On the other side of the movie we have Brendan (Joel Edgerton), a down on his luck school teacher who tries to make some extra cash in mixed martial arts fights so his family and him won’t lose their house. Eventually he gets a trainer to help him get ready for the same tournament his brother Tommy is participating in. Even though Brendan is an underdog he lays it all out every time he fights and this sets him up to eventually have to go toe to toe with his own brother.

What I really enjoyed about this movie was the acting. All three main actors in this movie do one hell of a job and give it their all just as their characters do in their own situations. Tom Hardy is starting to make a great name for himself. After a good job in Inception and now this we can only assume he’ll be great in the next Batman movie. I haven’t been too familiar with Joel Edgerton before this movie but I have to say that he too is quite the actor. Every time both of them are on screen you just get so wrapped up in their stories that you can’t help but stay glued to the screen. As for Nick Nolte, I honestly haven’t seen him do much better than he does here. He gives a really great performance, one that, at times, will tear you up inside.

The way the stories throughout this movie are told is another great part of the movie. At first it’s a little off putting because it just feels like two different stories going on at the same time that have nothing to do with each other. But once then do cross paths it gets even better and continues strong through the rest of the movie. Seeing this was directed by the same guy who directed Miracle, it doesn’t surprise me that he makes the story so enthralling. His ability to combine heavy handed drama with some of the most intense fight sequences in any movie in quite some time is definitely another highlight of the movie.

There isn’t much more I can say about Warrior that I haven’t already said. It’s great in all the right places and while it does feel familiar at times, it turns right around and does something that you more than likely haven’t seen in any movie before.

Jake Peffer

Movie Review - Goon (2011)

2012-01-24T19:09:00.000Z

Goon, 2011.

Directed by Michael Dowse.
Starring Sean William Scott, Jay Baruchel, Alison Pill, Liev Schreiber, Kim Coates and Eugene Levy.

SYNOPSIS:

A bouncer undergoes a change of career to become the star enforcer of an underachieving ice hockey team.

Let’s get the Rocky reference out of the way to begin with. It’s a sports film, so of course Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott) is an underdog. Let’s not kid ourselves calling him ‘differently intelligent’, this man is a doofus of the first order. Mr Robert Balboa practically ranks as an Oxbridge candidate in comparison. Frankly, comparisons are unfair and irrelevant in this case. Goon isn’t shooting for the stars; it’s diving for the gutter and splashing around down there so joyfully you can’t help but develop a kind of admiration for it.

We’ll stick with the word ‘doofus’ for Doug. It fits his particular mindset beautifully. The man’s an idiot built like a brick shithouse – but he has no pretensions to being anything else. He’s been working security duty for his local bar, and he’s not terribly proud of it. Neither are his wonderfully Jewish parents (Eugene Levy and Ellen David), who would dearly have loved to have another doctor son. Like Doug’s brother Ira. Except not gay like Ira.

Doug unwinds watching a nice, relaxing, brutal game of minor league ice hockey with Ryan, his best friend (Jay Baruchel). Ryan is never one to keep his thoughts to himself, and good god does he have a lot of thoughts. Many of them about cock. He aims one too many cock jokes at a hockey player in the penalty box and very nearly gets the beating he so richly deserves. Lucky for Ryan (and the story), Doug steps in and headbutts the player so hard the man’s helmet cracks in half.

An offer to join the local team as an enforcer follows. He impresses the coach with his natural instinct for brute force, and he’s transferred to the semi-pro league. Doug is soon swept up into the team dynamic, dedicated to ‘protecting’ his team, even if they can’t win a match to save their lives. It works for us too; an audience who have never so much as glanced at an ice hockey match their whole lives soon grasp the fundamentals of the game, so far as they’re important to the story.

Goon isn’t very different at all to NHL ice hockey. Both of them are really all about the fights. We don’t see authorised bare knuckle fighting this side of the pond (it’s illegal), but in America the fisticuffs is part and parcel of the whole appeal of the game. Coach Hortense (Kim Coates) offers a more...concise definition to his team: “This. Is not. Fucking. BASEBALL.”

This film lures you into the hockey bloodlust in spite of yourself. After all, on an academic level, most of us would be with Eugene Levy, warning Doug of the long-term effects involved in repeated blows to the head. To director Michael Dowse’s credit, these are very believable blows. You can practically hear the teeth cracking in their mouths when Glatt jabs them in the jaw. Seriously, there are so many punches to the face through the course of this hockey season, you wonder how it is that the main supporting character isn’t a dentist.

So we buy the violence; the cracked teeth, the blood on the ice, that all feels real and we like some things to feel real in comedy. But why do we like Doug ‘The Thug’ Glatt? Again, Eugene ‘Voice of Reason’ Levy points out that ‘Thug’ isn’t the greatest nickname to have. Doug is essentially beating people up for a living, but because it’s in a sporting context, this is deemed exciting and satisfying. That can’t be his appeal. Liev Schrieber’s character does the same thing, and he’s a professional bastard, no question about it.

Perhaps it’s because we see Doug take just as much as he dishes out. You don’t grow up to own a skull that cracks a guy’s knuckles without taking your fair share of beatings. He doesn’t moan or sob about going home with a black eye or two at the end of a game. His team-mate LaFlamme (Marc-André Grondin) does, but he’s something of a whining nancy all the way through. Doug has a little more dignity. Sometimes. When he’s not trying to play hockey.

Eva (Alison Pill) has a lot to do with this. Finally snagging a proper supporting role after scene-stealing stints in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Midnight in Paris, Pill takes Eva to very interesting places. Eva already has a boyfriend, but she falls for the big doofus so quickly it frightens her. It kills her to mess him around, but she is genuinely torn. You’ve seen films before, you know who she’ll choose. It’s just that Pill does such an excellent job convincing us we’re wrong.

Goon isn’t the best it could be. Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg have written a fairly solid script, true. What is also true is that Baruchel couldn't resist writing himself an entirely superfluous role, amounting to little more than a cheerleader with Tourette’s. These writers were conscientious enough not to shoehorn in a forgiveness n’ hugs scene with Doug’s parents. They gave Liev Schreiber a believable aging hard man character. So why leave us in a cinema with a character like Ryan for 90 minutes?

Fortunately enough, Ryan all but disappears by the second act. Seann William Scott and Alison Pill take over as the far more convincing couple. Maybe it’s the massive size difference, maybe Pill just epitomises the kind of girl who can’t resist a 3-day beard, but you can’t knock these two onscreen together.

There’s a touching scene about 40 minutes in, as Eva tells Doug there’s no chance for them to be together, where Dowse tries something fairly brave. He pulls out Puccini’s ‘Nessun Dorma (None Shall Sleep)’. This could have been bombastic or overblown (take your pick); it’s not exactly a subtle sort of aria. Strangely though, it feels right. It hits us where it hurts for the right reasons, not for cheap ironic giggles, but for sincere, well-earned pathos. An unexpected, but very welcome feeling in the middle of a hockey fight comedy. More surprises like this, please.

Simon Moore is a budding screenwriter, passionate about films both current and classic. He has a strong comedy leaning with an inexplicable affection for 80s montages and movies that you can’t quite work out on the first viewing.

War Horse fends off Haywire and Underworld: Awakening at the UK box office

2012-01-24T18:20:00.003Z

UK box office top ten and analysis for the weekend of Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd January 2012...

Steven Spielberg's World War I drama War Horse holds onto pole position at the UK box office in its second weekend, romping home by several furlongs with £3.2m ahead of competition from new arrivals Haywire and Underworld: Awakening in second and third respectively. War Horse has grossed close to £9.6m in just ten days on screens, leaving it just short of the £10.4m amassed by The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn on its second weekend, although that figure was boosted by several days of preview screenings during the school holidays back in October.

In terms of the newcomers, Steven Soderbergh's Haywire banks just shy of £1.2m, while Kate Beckinsale's return to the Underworld franchise give the fourth installment a small boost over its predecessor, pulling in £1.1m compared to the £990k opening of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans back in 2009. Elsewhere, Jonah Hill's latest comedy The Sitter earns £910k to take sixth place, while fellow openers J. Edgar (£413k), W.E. (£163k) and Coriolanus (£157k) all fail to grab a spot in the top ten.

Turning to the familiar faces, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows drops one spot to fourth but continues to demonstrate its staying power as it pushes its total gross towards the £25m mark. Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady falls three to fifth, while Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol suffers the steepest decline of the week, dropping three spots to finish up in seventh. Meanwhile The Artist, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Puss in Boots all slip one place each to occupy positions eight through ten.

Number one this time last year: The King's Speech

Pos.	Film	Weekend Gross	Week	Total UK Gross
1	War Horse	£3,202,493	2	£3,202,493
2	Haywire	£1,197,866	1	£1,197,866
3	Underworld: Awakening	£1,114,327	1	£1,114,327
4	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows	£956,434	6	£24,627,233
5	The Iron Lady	£949,517	3	£7,162,492
6	The Sitter	£910,382	1	£910,382
7	Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol	£815,330	5	£16,686,503
8	The Artist	£770,403	4	£3,205,883
9	Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked	£568,758	6	£13,111,689
10	Puss in Boots	£568,590	7	£13,645,623

Incoming...

Alexander Payne's Golden Globe-winning comedy-drama The Descendants (cert. 15) [read our review here] arrives in cinemas this coming Friday and it is joined by several other new releases, including 3D animated A Monster in Paris (cert. U), psychological thriller Intruders (cert. 15), Liam Neeson survival thriller The Grey (cert. 15), French brothel drama The House of Tolerance (cert. 18), romance Like Crazy (cert. 12A) and low-budget horror The Devil Inside (cert. 15), which topped the US box office earlier this month.

U.K. Box Office Archive

84th Academy Award nominations revealed

2012-01-24T16:25:00.000Z

This morning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards, with Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone, X-Men: First Class, The Hunger Games) handling the official announcement. Leading the field with eleven nominations including Best Picture and Best Director is Martin Scorsese's Hugo, with Michel Hazanavicius' Golden Globe-winner The Artist hot on its heels with nods in ten categories.

The Artist and Hugo will face off for the coveted Best Picture Oscar against The Descendants, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life and War Horse, while Scorsese and Hazanavicius are joined by Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life) and Alexander Payne (The Descendants) in the race for Best Director.

Check out the full list of nominations...

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Best Director
Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

Best Actor
Demián Bichir (A Better Life)
George Clooney (The Descendants)
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

Best Actress
Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
Viola Davis (The Help)
Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
Nick Nolte (Warrior)
Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo (The Artist)
Jessica Chastain (The Help)
Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Original Screenplay
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Margin Call
Midnight in Paris
A Separation

Foreign Language Film
A Separation
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar

Animated Feature
A Cat in Paris
Chico and Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Documentary Feature
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Art Direction
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse

Cinematography
The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Costume Design
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

Film Editing
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball

Makeup
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Iron Lady

Sound Editing
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon
War Horse

Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon
War Horse

Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Original Score
The Adventures of Tintin
The Artist
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse

Original Song
Man or Muppet (The Muppets)
Real in Rio (Rio)

Animated Short
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Documentary Short
The Barber of Birmingham
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Live Action Short
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

Which film do you think deserves to win Best Picture? Be sure to vote in our poll, and feel free to let us know your predictations for this year's Oscars in the comments below...

The winners will be revealed at the star-studded Academy Awards ceremony, which takes place on February 26th at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California and sees Billy Crystal returning as host for the ninth time.

Movie Review - The Descendants (2011)

2012-01-24T07:42:00.000Z

The Descendants, 2011.

Directed by Alexander Payne.
Starring George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard and Robert Forster.

SYNOPSIS:

Matt King is a Hawaiian property lawyer who just so happens to be a descendent of the original native royalty of Hawaii. His family has inherited some of the most valuable untouched land in the archipelago and he’s in charge of facilitating the biggest property sale in the history of Hawaii. King is an absent father and a detached husband and without warning his wife is injured in a boating accident that leaves her comatose. As her health deteriorates the reality of their relationship, his deficiencies as a parent and the horrible reality of finding out that his wife was having an affair.

Writer/Director Alexander Payne’s previous works are renowned for presenting deeply flawed characters in a realistic light. Election, Sideways and About Schmidt are all critically acclaimed for their ability to follow wholly unlikeable characters through seemingly mundane environments and making it all compelling: Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) from Sideways, Warren (Jack Nicholson) from About Schmidt, and Tracey Flick (Reece Witherspoon) from Election.

Payne delves you into the Hawaiian physical and social landscape of the island community to give you Matt's working and environmental context. In a way, Payne then has to provide us and the fairly clueless Matt (at this point) with an insight into his family. His youngest daughter Scottie (Amara Miller) is a rough and tumble tom-boy who's acting out by verbally bullying fellow students. And Matt's eldest daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) has been housed in a boarding school away from the family for being troubled - or so you're initially led to believe. Payne's structure let's you journey through Matt's assumptions and grow through and be awakened to his actually reality. You're filling out Matt's reality because he realises that he's closed himself off from everything.

Enter George Clooney's Matt King, a performance that will possibly gain him an Oscar. Does it live up to the hype? Personally I think his performance as the titular character Michael Clayton will be the performance of his career - but he does some more career best work here with The Descendants. However, knowing the strange moods of the Oscars - he'll be very tough to beat. King's a great character for Clooney. It's a subtler and purposefully restrained performance. Clooney is pitch perfect and really unpredictable as King. He's forced to project deep internal turmoil with an introverted character. The character's arc is great to show off Clooney's range - King is required to deal with grief, traverse the perils of (now single) fatherhood, the rage of betrayal, spite, discovery, and moments of restraint to protect the ideal of his wife in the eyes of her family despite what he's discovered. It's definitely a performance that will stay with you long after you see the film.

The resonance of the characters isn't exclusive to Clooney's Matt King - Shailene Woodley is staggeringly good as Alexandra. It was the best supporting performance by a female actor that I saw last year. Her character requires an immediate and necessary growth and level head with the pressures of this situation and her performance delivers flawlessly. Matt is lost and at times leans really heavily on his eldest daughter for guidance - Woodley's Alexandra receives and absorbs the pressure and is able to fulfil her whimsical teenager and familial rock with the delivery of much more weathered performers. The fact that the performance holds steady (and in my mind exceeds) Clooney's performance may give you an indication of just how good it is.

The supporting cast is fantastic. Nick Krause's Sid (the stoner rock and companion of Alexandra) brings a much needed like to some of the darkness in The Descendants, for the characters and the audience. Robert Forster (Jackie Brown) plays Matt's father-in-law - damaged by the grief of a wife with dementia and now a daughter in a coma lashes out at Matt at every opportunity. Every line is barbed and hits you with such great affect that you don't know what Matt is going to do. It's a performance that punches far above the given screen time. And finally the surprise packet is Matthew Lillard's Brian Speer, who was having an affair with Matt's wife focus and become's a necessary cathartic figure for the film. Lillard previously starred in She's All That, Scream and Scooby Doo - so his brief reactionary performance packs more of a punch if you're familiar with his lighter fare.

The Descendants is a devastating and rewarding emotional journey. Fans and critics of Payne will argue vehemently that this is his best and equally that it doesn't stand against his other works. As will reviewers and critics speaking of Clooney's performance. The Descendants is a film that was over-hyped for me prior to my initial viewing. But in writing about it, and remembering the performances, it's a film that resonates on a lot of levels and I'll definitely be revisiting it.

Blake Howard is a writer/site director/podcaster at the castleco-op.com. Follow him on Twitter here: @BLAGatCCO.

Films To Watch Before You Die #52 - Philadelphia (1993)

2012-01-24T07:20:00.000Z

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

Philadelphia, 1993.

Directed by Jonathan Demme.
Starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Jason Robards, Mary Steenburgen and Antonio Banderas.

Philadelphia is one of the first Hollywood films to deal with the sensitive subject of homosexuality, homophobia and the gay community’s struggle with HIV and AIDS. The film was inspired by the true story of attorney Geoffrey Bowers, who successfully sued the law firm that fired him in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases.

The story follows Andrew Beckett (Hanks), a senior associate at Philadelphia’s largest law firm. Beckett is very capable in the work place, but hides his homosexuality from his employers and work colleagues, despite living with his partner Miguel (Banderas). When Beckett is given a very important case to work on one of the company’s partners notices he has a small lesion on his forehead. Wanting to hide his illness Beckett stays at home in order to try and find a way to hide the lesions, but still finishes his work and ensures the file is in the right hands to move forward.

When the document goes missing and Beckett finds himself in hospital with bowel spasms the company question his ability to work and fire him. Believing that someone had purposely hidden his document in order to instigate his firing due to his sexuality and illness Beckett looks for legal representation in order to sue his former employers. After asking several attorneys to take his case and being told no he turns to personal injury lawyer Joe Miller (Washington). Miller is uncomfortable with the case himself and turns it down, but upon seeing the behaviour of others towards Beckett in public he changes his mind.

As Miller battles to earn justice for Beckett the company argue that he was incompetent. After Beckett falls ill during the case and ends up in hospital the jury votes in favour of Beckett and awards him a vast sum of money for back pay and damages. Beckett falls foul to his illness and on his passing away his family and friends, including Miller and his family, watch home movies of Beckett as a child.

The film was received very well by audiences and critics as it grossed over $200,000,000 worldwide and earned Hanks an Oscar for Best Actor as well as the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival. Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ also won and Oscar for Best Original Song.

Philadelphia is a film you must see before you die as it is an unbelievable story of prejudice, homophobia and the suffering it causes. The film signaled a shift in Hollywood towards realistic portrayals of gay and lesbian people, but still scenes that were too intimate between Hanks and Banderas were cut as the filmmakers held back on the homosexual affection within the film.

D.J. Haza

Follow my blog at http://djhaza.blogspot.com/
Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/djhaza

Second Opinion - War Horse (2011)

2012-01-24T07:01:00.000Z

War Horse, 2011.

Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Starring Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston and Toby Kebbell.

SYNOPSIS:

A horse is sold to the calvary and sent to the front during World War I.

The poster for War Horse tells us that horse and boy are ‘Separated by war. Tested by battle. Bound by friendship’. So why is it that even the Greatest Film Maker of All Time™ can’t make us care for either boy or horse, or any other character appearing over the course of 2 and a half hours?

War Horse has it’s problem rooted in three areas:

1. The story is far too episodic to allow the audience to feel emotion or engage with any of the human characters. If you did, then they’re off screen again as the horse moves on to its next owner. This is bad enough, but then some of these characters which you didn’t get the time to invest in reappear at the end for one great big mushy conclusion… only you don’t care by that point. The action scenes are not epic nor are they particularly shocking or hard-hitting. Spielberg set the bar so high in Saving Private Ryan that anything else he (or anyone else for that matter) makes in mainstream film will be compared to it and is destined for failure. The action scenes are fine, but they felt as if they were shoehorned in to give the film any degree of excitement. In another film of World War One, these may have made more of an impact but in War Horse, they add little to the proceedings.

2. The film doesn’t know its audience. It’s too dull and slow for kids; not emotionally engaging enough for adults; not exciting enough for the average popcorn-munching viewer; and nowhere near the standard you’d expect from Spielberg for anyone going to see it because he’s the director.

3. This point hurts my fingers to type it, but it has to be said… The holy trinity of Spielberg / John Williams / Janusz Kaminski is simply too overpowering in War Horse. The trademark Spielberg angles, Kaminski’s oranges and browns, Williams’ cues telling you when to start crying… there's too much emphasis on trying to make the audience feel something, rather than actually making them feel it with a better story, less characters, less corny dialogue, and half an hour less footage.

Despite all of the above, War Horse is far from a terrible film and never reaches the depths of Spielberg’s worst film, Hook. It looks beautiful throughout and the sets and attention to detail of the trenches are excellent. However, it just does not work as effectively and as functionally as we’ve come to expect from the team involved.

Morbometer™: 5.1 OUT OF 10

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

Win a Perfect Sense DVD and poster signed by Ewan McGregor

2012-01-23T17:45:00.000Z

OK, it's January and it's all a bit dismal but at the end of this month Perfect Sense is released on DVD. If Ewan McGregor and Eva Green can manage to find love as the world is crashing down around them then we can certainly get through January.

This apocalyptic sci-fi fable has been hailed as “thrillingly ambitious, ecstatically romantic and utterly unexpected” (Time Out), and as “a touching, emotionally resonant and beautifully executed spin on humanity’s final moments that will hit you in the head and heart” (SFX Magazine).

The DVD is released on January 30th and to celebrate we have a cinema poster signed by Ewan McGregor plus a copy of Perfect Sense on DVD to give away to one lucky reader. Take a look at the trailer and synopsis, and read on for details of how to enter the competition...

Directed by David Mackenzie (Spread, Young Adam, Hallam Foe) and written by Kim Fupz Aakeson (To Love Someone, Pure Hearts), Perfect Sense stars Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge!, Big Fish, Beginners), Eva Green (Casino Royale, The Golden Compass, Dark Shadows), Connie Nielsen (Gladiator, One Hour Photo, The Ice Harvest) and Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting, Snatch, Page Eight) and Stephen Dillane (King Arthur, 44 Inch Chest, The Hours) in a taut and moving love story.

McGregor stars as Michael, the head chef at a swanky Glasgow restaurant, and Eva Green stars as Susan, an aloof epidemiologist who catches his eye and is hearing reports across the world of people inexplicably losing their senses. They embark on a sensual adventure that sees them experiencing new and unforeseen depths of feeling and moments of pure connection. But is this because they are falling in love or is it because the world as they know it is beginning to fall apart?

We've had a few exclusive Twitter competitions lately, so this time we're offering the prize to one of our Facebook friends...

So, to be in with a shout of nabbing the DVD and signed poster, make sure you like us on Facebook (if you haven't already), and then drop us an email with the subject heading "PERFECT", your name and contact details (make sure to include your Facebook name), along with an answer to the following question...

Which of the following does not see Ewan McGregor co-starring with Ewen Bremner...?

A) Trainspotting
B) Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
C) Black Hawk Down

The competition closes at 5pm on Sunday, February 5th.

The Prize Finder - UK Competitions
Loquax Competitions

By entering this competition you agree to our terms and conditions, which you can read here.

The Internet's Armpit... Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Hate George Lucas Even More

2012-01-23T15:16:00.000Z

Oli Davis presents five of the very best film-related uploads from around the world wide web...

5. Horrible Aftermaths Implied By Movies With Happy Endings

Cracked are always good for oddly numbered, irrelevant countdowns (Top 6, Top 23, etc). Here is an exercise in extreme geekdom, plotting out what would occur after a film’s climax. The effects of an exploding Death Star on Endor, for example, or the World War following the Top Gun’s climactic dogfight. Spoiler alerts, obviously.

4. CG-Free Rise of the Planet of the Apes Footage

Strange how Andy Serkis, in an S&M-style motion capture suit, cuts a more empathetic and believable ape than the computer generated one that eventually made it into the film.

3. The Future of CGI

Michael Bay and Jon Favreau are talking heads in a sarcastic look at the future of CGI (a self-awareness largely lacking from their own work).

2. Moonrise Kingdom Official Trailer

Wes Anderson takes auteurship to new heights of continuity. The trailer for his next film, Moonrise Kingdom, looking exactly like every other Wes Anderson film you’ve ever seen. But the act has yet to wear thin, so if it ain’t broke… just add Edward Norton to make it even better.

1. Red Letter Media's Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review

A 72 minute critical annihilation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. An acquired, dark taste of humour (i.e. lots of rape and murder jokes), but there is a majestic and detailed deconstruction veiled behind it.

Special Mention: Meet Vermin Supreme 2012 Presidential Candidate

An ingenious piece of live satire. It’s pretty funny, and then you realize he’s wearing an oversized wellington boot as a hat. Watch till the end, where Vermin attempts to turn a fellow candidate gay in his closing statement.

Oli Davis

DVD Review - Red State (2011)

2012-01-23T10:36:00.000Z

Red State, 2011.

Written and Directed by Kevin Smith.
Starring Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Kyle Gallner, Kerry Bishé, Ralph Garma,n Michael Angarano, Stephen Root, Nicholas Braun and Kevin Pollak.

SYNOPSIS:

After responding to an online sex invitation, three horny young friends find themselves held captive by a group of ultra right-wing Christian extremists determined to unleash their own brand of bloody atonement.

Even the most hardened of Kevin Smith fans would have to admit that the filmmaker has struggled to recapture the comedy gold of his early View Askewniverse offerings with his last couple of movies, so it's refreshing to see that - following the critical lambasting of his previous effort, the Bruce Willis / Tracy Morgan buddy comedy Cop Out - Smith has returned to his indie roots as writer-director (and distributor) of his tenth feature, Red State. Foregoing the usual dick and fart jokes in favour of a dark, mature tale of hardcore religious extremism, Smith had dragged himself way out of his comfort zone, and in doing so he's delivered his best work since Chasing Amy.

Despite being marketed as a horror film, it's actually pretty difficult to describe Red State. Smith himself has called it "Quentin Tarantino by way of the Coen Brothers", and that's probably as accurate a description as you can get, right down to the casting of QT favourite Michael Parks (perhaps best known for his work as Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in From Dusk Till Dawn, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Death Proof and Planet Terror) and Coen Brothers regular John Goodman. Starting out very much as a traditional horror, Red State opens with three teens - Kyle Gallner (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Michael Angarano (The Forbidden Kingdom) and Nicholas Braun (Sky High) - heading out into the sticks after an invitation for sex from an older woman, Sarah Cooper (The Fighter's Melissa Leo).

Unfortunately for the teens, Sarah is actually the daughter of Abin Cooper (Parks), a Fred Phelps-inspired pastor of the Five Points Trinity Church, a group of right-wing Christian fundamentalists out to punish 'sinners' for their transgressions. Drugged by Sarah, the three friends soon find themselves held captive in Cooper's church and after a hate-filled sermon from the pastor, they witness the brutal execution of a fellow 'sinner' before trying to make their escape. Meanwhile, Special Agent Keenan (Goodman) and a group of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officers arrive on the scene, laying siege to the church before receiving orders from above to embark on a Waco-style raid of the property.

Although it starts out by focussing on the three teens, as soon as Abin Cooper makes his entrance it quickly becomes clear that he’s the star of the show. If you’re familiar with Parks’ work then you’ll already know he’s great, but the veteran takes it to another level with Red State and delivers an absolutely captivating turn as the fanatical head of the Five Points Church. It is without doubt one of the best performances of 2011 and had Red State been directed by Tarantino or the Coens, then Parks would surely have found himself contesting a number of honours this awards season. As you’d expect, John Goodman is solid as the lead ATF agent, while the rest of the supporting cast are also convincing, particularly Kyle Gallner as Jared and Kerry Bishé as Cheyanne, Abin Cooper’s granddaughter.

Smith has often come under fire for his lack of visual style, but Red State is easily his most polished and visually impressive film to date, thanks in no small part to the gritty, documentary-like cinematography of regular collaborator Dave Klein. A taut, unpredictable and gripping piece of cinema, Red State really demonstrates Smith’s coming of age as a filmmaker and if this is what he’s capable of, then it’s a shame that it’s taken him so long to branch out beyond the comedy genre. It’s also a shame that he plans to bring the curtain down on his directing career with his next two-part feature Hit Somebody, and if that proves to be the case, then Red State will certainly stand out as one of the highlights on his filmmaking C.V.

Gary Collinson

Films To Watch Before You Die #51 - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

2012-01-23T07:25:00.000Z

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

The Silence of the Lambs, 1991.

Directed by Jonathan Demme.
Starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glen and Ted Levine.

The Silence of the Lambs is the chilling cinematic story based on Thomas Harris’ novel of the same name. The film follows Clarice Starling (Foster), a young FBI agent who has to entertain the immensely intelligent cannibal Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins) in order to try and capture another serial killer named ‘Buffalo Bill’.

Starling is pulled from her training in order to interview Lecter in his enclosed cell at the Bureau’s Behavioral Science Unit. The former psychiatrist is himself a serial killer and the FBI believe that he can aid their pursuit of Buffalo Bill, who skins the corpses of his female victims. Lecter’s unnerving and evil demeanor puts Starling on edge to begin with, but through regular visits she begins to get to grips with Lecter and a strange relationship forms between them as Lecter takes an obvious liking to her.

The Silence of the Lambs was a huge hit and its estimated $19,000,000 budget was money well spent as it grossed over $272,000,000 worldwide and earned itself a truck load of awards and a very high approval rating from critics and audiences alike. The film mixes the crime and horror genres to great effect and became only the third film to win the top five Oscar categories. Silence of the Lambs won Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay as well as Demme winning Best Director and Foster Best Actress.

However, The Silence of the Lambs is a film you must see before you die because Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning turn as Hannibal Lecter is one of the all time great performances in cinema. His chillingly evil, yet brilliant Lecter has been voted by American Film Institute as the number one film villain of all time. All that despite Hopkins having just less than 16 minutes of screen time in order to shine.

D.J. Haza

Follow my blog at http://djhaza.blogspot.com/
Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/djhaza

Movie Review - The Artist (2011)

2012-01-23T07:17:00.000Z

The Artist, 2011.

Directed by Michel Hazanavicius.
Starring Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Malcolm McDowell, Penelope Anne Miller, Missi Pyle and Uggie.

SYNOPSIS:

A silent movie star faces up to the advent of sound.

Modern audiences may struggle to realise the medium they are watching at the multiplex started without the aid of spoken words and only a musical score to accompany the picture. Sadly, some won’t have even seen a film in black and white. The Artist is both silent and black and white, and is even filmed in 1.33:1 aspect ratio. To those not familiar with aspect ratios, 1.33:1 means (in crude terms) the sides of the cinema screen are not filled, with the film looking like a ‘box’ rather than the usual full screen (typically 1.85:1 or 2.39:1) that we are used to. The effect works well in The Artist because that is how films would have looked in the 20s and 30s and is (literally) the first signs of director Michel Hazanavicius’ intention to make his film stand out from anything else you’ve probably ever seen at the cinema before.

I’d like to point out that 1.33:1 is rare in modern film making but not unique to The Artist; watch Meek’s Cutoff, also released in 2011, to a truely jarring effect of the ratio. But I digress.

The (near) total lack of spoken word, 1.33:1 ratio, black and white, and a non-stop musical score make The Artist a refreshing and welcome change to modern cinema releases. It is funny, sad and charming and rewards the viewer with almost every scene it gives us. I cannot praise the lead actor Jean Dujardin enough for his performance; his face expresses every word we do not hear and that is a talent in itself, and moreover he and the rest of the cast give such strong and understanding performances, knowing the director’s intention to remove the sound, that everything makes perfect sense. I say this because the amount of times I get lost in a film’s plot because the dialogue or performances don’t ring true, or the direction doesn’t allow me to follow or believe what I’m seeing, is far too high these days. The Artist is a simple plot told exquisitely well and is a delight to watch.

For a film which takes its origins from the silent era, it was interesting to watch the director’s choice of lens, angle, and film stock. The Artist doesn’t look or even attempt to look as if it were made in the 20s or 30s but it does have an undeniable revisionist feel to it. It is clearly a modern film set in the past and it looks great, unlike, say, Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German, which presented itself as a film made in the 1940s using the camera and angles and effects of the period. Soderbergh’s film did not work despite being a brave experiment, but I was happy to see The Artist not falling into the same pretentious trap.

Had I seen The Artist last year it would certainly have made my top 10 of 2011, and I hope it gets all the awards it deserves. It is not without its faults, and I think the film works better in its more lively and happier scenes rather than when it gets more serious, as it does in the second half, and loses some of its appeal by getting hampered with too much emotion. This is a minor criticism of an otherwise splendid piece of filmmaking.

Morbometer™: 8.8 out of 10

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

Director John Madden discusses The Debt and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

2012-01-23T07:01:00.000Z

To most, John Madden will always be the director of such period classics as Mrs Brown and Shakespeare in Love. Oscar-nominated for Best Director on the latter, he steered the film to a staggering 13 Academy Award nominations and seven wins, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Gwyneth Paltrow and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Dame Judi Dench. Since then, he’s branched out, adapting Louis de Bernières’s best-selling novel Captain Corelli’s Mandoli, David Auburn’s play Proof and Elmore Leonard’s book Killshot for the big screen. Yet, with his latest movie, Madden takes on a different type of source material – that of the 2007 Israeli film Ha-Hov, directed and co-written by Assaf Bernstein.

Remaking Ha-Hov as The Debt, it tells a complex story about secrets, lies, history and guilt, starting in East Berlin in the 1960s and continuing in Tel Aviv in 2007. Cutting back and forth between the two, the story sees three Mossad agents (Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas) sent to kidnap a Nazi doctor and bring him to trial in Israel. Over forty years later, the former agents (now played by Helen Mirren, Ciarán Hinds and Tom Wilkinson) must contend with a secret they’ve kept about the operation for all this time. Below, Madden talks about what drew him to the film, why he loves working with Helen Mirren and his next film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Q: The Debt has been a long time coming. Can you explain why?

A: We filmed in January, February and March of 2009. We ended up finishing the film later because I wanted Tom Newman to do the score and I couldn’t get access to him until September of that year. So we finally finished the film at the beginning of 2010.

Q: What appealed to you about The Debt?

A: Well, it’s extraordinarily compelling and challenging material. It’s thematically weighty. It’s an extraordinary opportunity to tell a story that in one sense is a very pure cinematic genre – the genre of the thriller. But also one that allows a very complex emotional and psychological drama to unfold at the same time. Usually those things pull against each other in a project and you have to stop the thriller for a moment in order to fill in the character and catch up on who they really are. And this film is very different in that way. You understand who these people are through the story that’s unfolding. It all pulls against itself in a really interesting way. An amazing challenge in terms of the material, but a great opportunity as well.

Q: How did you come across the Israeli film, Ha-Hov, that The Debt is based on?

A: Well, I can’t take credit for that. What happened was that somebody who was involved in the original Israeli film, as an executive producer, brought it to the attention of somebody at the agency that represents Matthew Vaughn. And Matthew and Kris Thykier had a company and they essentially saw the completed film and thought it deserved a wider platform. The original film was made in Hebrew and it received quite a limited release inside Israel so not many people in Israel saw it, which I didn’t realise until I got there to film. I thought it would be very well known, but it wasn’t. But it’s such a compelling story and so powerful and very challenging to tell that story in the form of a thriller, without selling the material short. It also frankly evoked a movie that I really like, which is the kind of movie that used to be made in the Seventies, where the thrillers were about psychology and behaviour and character was an essential part of what was going on. Those films are still being made but there’s a definite tendency for certain kinds of thrillers to move off into the total immersion zone. And the psychology is very reduced and very simple, if provocative. So the fact it’s a character story and a human drama…

Q: Do you think we’ve gone through the Bourne phase to return to something more realistic?

A: I think so. It’s funny, one imposes those constructions in retrospect, but the impulse is probably the same. Meaning the impulse to get back to something that is a contrasting colour from what we’re used to seeing now.

Q: What films were you thinking of for inspiration on The Debt?

A: The Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor. Those sort of movies that had political complexity to them. China Syndrome is a different kind of thriller, but had something to say. So much of modern film has been hijacked by the visceral experience, the fairground ride. The most extreme manifestation is 3D, obviously. It’s about how can you bazooka somebody into a really trippy experience. The satisfactions of a film that works with tension and fear and intrigue and mystery and suspense that is also about character has been forgotten along the way. Then you see something like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and you go ‘Wow, that’s a different kind of experience.’.

Q: Did Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman originally intend for The Debt to be a project for Matthew to direct?

A: Yes, in the first instance. Matthew being Matthew, he thought ‘This is a good one for me to direct’, and Jane is his writing partner and does most of the actual writing. The script that I first encountered was very tailored towards being a Matthew Vaughn film. But he understood and acknowledged immediately that a director would have to make the film that he or she saw.

Q: Did you ever have any discussions with Matthew and Jane?

A: Yeah, there were some talks. I talked to Jane at considerable length, but it was fairly obvious that, because they were already engaged on Kick-Ass, which they were about to start shooting and which they’d been writing at the same time, it was not going to work out in terms of the time frame. So Peter Straughan came onto the film and we worked very, very closely on deconstructing and reconstructing.

Q: Given you made this two-and-a-half years ago and you have Sam Worthington and Jessica Chastain in the cast, you must be a good talent-spotter…

A: Well, with Jessica, I was very lucky to find her. I absolutely wanted to cast an actress who was little known. I didn’t want ‘How did she turn into Helen Mirren?’ to become the agenda that dominated the film. If it had been another famous actress, that would’ve been the case. But directors are often credited with discovering somebody…

Q: Who else were you considering?

A: It would be invidious to say that! But there were other actresses that I didn’t know, that I was interested in investigating. But to be honest with you, I didn’t get so far with that. Helen was my given. That’s where the casting started. Once I had her committed to the film, the film then became a viable film. That’s the way it works. Obviously there was consideration about finding an actress who had a physical affinity with her. Though I have to say, having worked with Jessica, even if her physical affinity had not been as good as it was, I’m sure I would still have cast her.

Q: And Sam?

A: Sam I knew only from one film. Avatar had been shot but it hadn’t come out. I wasn’t even aware that he’d done these things. Strangely then, as now, people aren’t quite sure who he is. He was in a film called Somersault and I remembered the performance very strongly. It made an impact on me and he just lodged in my mind, as soon as I came across the material. It’s an unusual part. He’s the bespectacled boy in Lord of the Flies; that character – he’s wounded, and damaged, and hidden, but equally he has to have a heroic masculine presence. He just seemed like a very good fit. I went and pitched the film to him in Albuquerque once I had traced where he was (he was there shooting Terminator: Salvation). So I thought, ‘If I think he’s right I’ll pitch it really well and, if I think he’s not right, I won’t pitch it so well!’. So I pitched it as well as I could – he has a very distinctive presence. As it happens, the time-span has probably not hurt us. It’s certainly not hurt us with Jessica. Actually, when it was originally supposed to come out, Sam would’ve been known then. But you know what? People see the movie because of Helen.

Q: Finally, you’ve made another movie with Tom Wilkinson and Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. What’s that about?

A: What would I call it? It’s a comedy but it’s a melancholy comedy about a constituency that is ignored in life and in movies frequently - older people, the grey pound. That’s a line in the film! It’s about the grey pound and the grey opportunities, or lack of opportunities. It’s about people who find themselves at some dead end, either through lack of money or bereavement or physical infirmity or a wrong marriage. And none of these people know each other and they get pointed to a website which is advertising a crumbling Indian palace as a hotel where people can go and retire and outsource their retirement. It’s a very funny idea, and a very good idea, that the character in the film has. That character is played by Dev Patel. They arrive and of course the place is not what it purports to be, as nothing in India really is. And it’s about them colliding with India and with one another. It’s a very unusual piece.

The Debt is released on DVD and Blu-ray today and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is set to arrive in UK cinemas on February 24th.

Movie Review - Red Tails (2012)

2012-01-22T20:17:00.000Z

Red Tails, 2012.

Directed by Anthony Hemingway.
Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Ne-Yo, Method Man, Nate Parker, Elijah Kelley, Tristan Wilds, Theo James, David Oyelowo, Michael B. Jordon, Josh Dallas, Daniela Ruah and Bryan Cranston.

SYNOPSIS:

The true story of the heroic exploits of the Tuskegee airmen during World War II.

As much as I love film, there have been very few times where I’ve actually really anticipated the opening of a new movie. This year marks the arrival of probably the most anticipated film in the history of me; The Dark Knight Rises. But before the month of July can grace us with its presence, Red Tails managed to spark my interest from the very first time I viewed its trailer last year. Star Wars baby-maker and executive producer George Lucas lends his talents to this rather inspirational story about the Tuskegee airmen, their missions and the adversity they were faced with to earn and succeed in those missions.

Who else to lead a cast of predominantly African-American acting talent than Terrence Howard who to me sometimes looks, from the way he delivers his lines and throws his “coolness” into his parts, like he is vying for the title of ‘the next Denzel Washington’. He plays Colonel A.J. Bullard who heads the Tuskegee airmen program and fights and scraps to get his men a mission worth bragging about. After finding themselves doing nothing but “killing traffic” after a slew of assignments blowing up supply trucks and military trains, they finally receive their chance.

Under Colonel Bullard is Major Stance (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), who has appointed Martin “Easy” Julian (Nate Parker) as his squad leader. It’s easy to see from the get-go that Julian has some underlying problems which are revealed early in the film. He also has to deal with a hot-shot, fancy flying ace in the form of Lt. Joe “Lightning” Little as a wingman. Blessed with tons of skill, Little often breaks from the squad and does his own thing ignoring orders. Their first real test comes in the form of providing air cover for their white counterparts attempting to movie into enemy Nazi territory. Showing that they are more than capable of fighting the war like every other airmen, they are continued to have missions thrown their way despite the prejudice and scrutiny that they are constantly subjected to.

The most impressive aspect of this film should really come as no surprise. Yes, it was the special effects. They were clear, crisp and put you right in the action. As far as action adventure jet fighting movie magic goes, I’d put Red Tails among the top. The action comes quick and often and delivers on many levels. The only negative portion about the in-flight parts of the film I felt was the chatter. True, all good fighter pilot films have had creative talk and back-and-forth banter but this one seemed to have too much of it. To me, it felt as though some parts of the movie where there was communication between the pilots were kind of forced. Kind of like director Anthony Hemingway needed to fill in some parts of the movie for time reasons so he included extra lines for the actors to recite.

Moving from the best parts of the movie, the special effects, to the worst part. Overall, it felt like something was missing from the film. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it but it just had a feeling of absence somewhere within the story. I know the plot line is simply following the teachings and happenings of literal history but the film seemed to be missing a sort of “zing” or “pop” to really cause it go over the top. Perhaps it may suffer from the fact that we all already know what happens. At least if you showed up and actually paid attention in history class, you do. But there are plenty of other films which are based off of historical events and books, John B. Holway penned the novel of the same name, that still have that substance that leaves you feeling full as you walk out of the theater.

I was also expecting more from one Bryan Cranston who played Colonel William Mortamus, a Negro pilot-hating man who absolutely refuses to give them their due despite the successful missions that they put together. He was in a couple of scenes but then literally disappeared for the rest of the movie. All in all, I would still recommend this film to anyone, especially if you are history buff. Especially, especially if you are a military history buff. Especially, especially, especially if you are an African-American history buff. I give Red Tails “3 reasons to believe that war knows no color out of 5”.

“When you get mad or upset, you turn Red. When you get sick or jealous, you turn Green. When you turn into a coward, you turn Yellow. And you have the nerve to call us Colored.”

Sean Guard
Follow me on Twitter @Sean_Guard

US Box Office - Underworld slays the competition, Red Tails soars

2012-01-22T17:00:00.002Z

It was another impressive weekend at the US box office thanks in no small part to a wide variety of new releases. The fourth installment of the Underworld series continued its string of $20 million + openings, with Kate Beckinsale's return to the franchise propelling it to a $24 million dollar opening. The series has been remarkably consistent and audiences seem to have a limitless appetite for vampire related content.

The George Lucas-produced Red Tails also had a stronger than expected opening. Many analysts were sceptical of an all African American cast being able to generate a strong opening. The World War Two themed action film pulled in $19 million dollars this weekend. George Lucas indicated he wants to do a sequel and a prequel for the film. Just typing 'George Lucas' and 'prequel' in the same sentence makes me cringe just a little. If anyone thinks that's a good idea, wait a few weeks and go see the re-release of The Phantom Menace.

Last week's number one film Contraband had a decent hold, hauling in another $12 million landing it at number three for the weekend. The 9/11 themed drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close opened without much fanfare. In spite of starring two of the biggest box office draws in Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, the movie opened to an unremarkable $11 million. 9/11 movies have been a hard sell. Even with two of the most bankable stars in the world, audiences seemed relatively ambivalent about the movie and the subject matter. American audiences have made it fairly obvious that they have no interest in the subject of 9/11 or the war on terror at the box office.

This week's other new release, the Steven Soderbergh directed action film Haywire, landed with a 'thud'. The film was marketed heavily on the ensemble cast including Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Bandereas, and Michael Fassbender. All those names together were only able to net $9 million dollars in ticket sales.

Next week is another slew of studio offerings including the Liam Neeson survival thriller The Grey, Sam Worthington in the heist thriller Man on a Ledge, and the Katherine Heigl comedy One for the Money. Expect to see The Grey at number one next week with steep drops for Underworld, Red Tails and the rest in their second week out.

Here's your top films for North America:

1. Underworld: Awakening
Weekend Estimate: $24 million

2. Red Tails
Weekend Estimate: $19 million

3. Contraband
Weekend Estimate: $12 million; $46 million total

4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Weekend Estimate: $11 million

5. Haywire
Weekend Estimate: $9 million

Anghus Houvouras

Changing the expectations of cinema...

2012-01-22T12:12:00.000Z

Commenting on the commentators with Simon Columb...

Xan Brooks writes for The Guardian on 19th January about the audience members who demanded a refund (!!!) after realising that The Artist was a silent film:

"Stories like this are reliable broadsheet catnip, because they make us feel so superior to those cultural illiterates who don't read good. What kind of bozo goes to see The Artist without knowing its USP anyway? Who manages to remain so ignorant of the one thing that made the movie a novelty to begin with? Wow, get a load of those morons. Demanding a refund because The Artist is silent? That's like walking out of a Harry Potter adventure angrily protesting that it's full of little kids."

Brooks goes on to comment about how the film is not your usual film - akin to how Drive is not a Fast and Furious heist movie. Rather than feel superior and smug about how ignorant these audience members are it might be better to consider how these audience members were challenged in their expectations of what cinema is. I mean, how many people watched the film without realising it was silent and didn't ask for a refund ... and didn't leave halfway through. How many people have now seen a silent film for the first time ever and realised what a great genre it is ... typing into Google "silent films" to see many pictures of Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Buster Keaton and thought "Hey, I recognise him..." and watched a short video...

In the same way as the two children in Hugo go into their own dream-world about silent-cinema, we can only hope that this film will illuminate a style of filmmaking that is all-but-dead in contemporary cinema. Then when we think about the film winning Best Picture - How many people will watch it purely on this semi-credible award win? "It must be good - it won Best Picture!" they'll say... and then, the start of something beautiful will happen. Film does not just pass the time, film will then emotionally inform, educate and entertain...

Simon Columb

Movie Review - Moneyball (2011)

2012-01-22T09:14:00.000Z

Moneyball, 2011.

Directed by Bennett Miller.
Starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright.

SYNOPSIS:

Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) atempts to put together a successful baseball team by employing computer generated analysis to draft his players.

Can you really make a movie about all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes in baseball and it actually be better than a normal baseball movie with all the action? Moneyball says yes.

Brad Pitt stars as Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A's. He was a big time prospect when he was younger but didn't last long in the majors when he didn't live up to his potential. His team just lost in the first round of the playoffs in the previous season and they are about to lose the three best players on their team. Billy would like to try something different this season but all the scouts and members of the A's organization just don't understand what else they could possibly do. After meeting with the Cleveland Indians to try and make some trades he meets Peter Brand, played by Jonah Hill. Peter has a unique take on the game of baseball and this intrigues Billy enough to buy him from Cleveland. They plan on changing the game of baseball by choosing players based on statistics rather than seeing how they actually play the game. Nobody else likes this idea and thinks they will have one of the worst seasons in their history, but Billy and Peter have faith in their system and plan on doing something that has never been seen before.

You take one look at this movie and you would expect it to be boring because it's a baseball movie but without all the baseball action you would normal get. We get to see things like trades being made, talks about money problems and statistical analysis of players. That's not to say that we don't get to see some of the games every now and again but that's not what the story focuses on. One would never think that could be so engaging and very entertaining. The writing and acting definitely play big parts in why this movie is so entertaining. Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) wrote the screenplay for this and they did a great job combining almost every single aspect of baseball into a good script.

The acting here is top notch and it really is only three actors doing it well for almost the entire movie. Brad Pitt is great as always and here he really brings a lot to this real life character and certainly deserves to be nominated for anything he gets nominated for. Phillip Seymour Hoffman does a great job as well playing the head coach Art Howe. He plays it just like most head coaches in baseball really are and that definitely gave the movie some points for being realistic. Jonah Hill is someone you wouldn't think would give a really good performance, mainly because he mostly does a lot of comedies. But here he actually gives a great performance and shows that he does have some range and we could very well see him doing more than just the types of comedies we've come to know from him.

All in all, the movie is not perfect but what it does put on screen is an effective sports movie that's not just about all the glitz and glamour of being in the spotlight. It shows what really goes on when it comes to trying to put together a successful team and win ball games.

Jake Peffer

Movie Review - Haywire (2011)

2012-01-21T16:32:00.001Z

Haywire, 2011.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Starring Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Bill Paxton, Antonio Banderas, Michael Angarano and Michael Douglas.

SYNOPSIS:

After being double-crossed on her last mission, a female black ops soldier seeks revenge.

Steven Soderbergh is many things. He is one of the most pioneering directors of digital filmmaking working today and he can squeeze every penny out of a small or large budget. His frames are always interesting, his colour pallet vivid and striking, and he never allows himself to be mundane or obvious strives to challenge himself with new and fresh material, with the ‘Ocean’ trilogy as his only franchise and money-spinners. He is one of my favourite directors.

Having said all of that, it pains me to not have enjoyed his latest project, the supposed action/spy thriller Haywire. If anything, to me this is his weakest film to date.

The core reason, ironically, is because of all of the aforementioned reasons why I love his work so much but in Haywire it just did not work for the genre. This is his first attempt at the spy/thriller/espionage genre and he is hindered by a lifeless, dull and stagnant script which, despite a decent opening 20 minutes, wastes away to nothing rapidly. I could not invest in any of the characters or their motives, especially the lead, Mallory - the hard-done-by agent who is out for revenge for reasons I never really cared about. She isn’t the first and she won’t be the last; it surprised me Soderbergh was attracted to such a by-the-numbers story.

The film is filled with recognisable faces but Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas are there to add gravitas to the poster and Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, and debutant Gino Carano deliver their lines like we’re watching rehearsal footage. It’s poor dialogue delivered badly. Channing Tatum has the on-screen charisma of a burnt match and is about as useful; I’m saddened to see he has the role in Soderbergh’s next picture, Magic Mike.

Soderbergh’s usual experimentation with colour, filter, framing, and editing are all on-screen in Haywire but only serve to hid the bland story and his inability to stage a fight scene with art-house pretensions. The fight scenes look like rehearsals of what was to come and never for one moment did I feel any enjoyment or excitement. I’m all for his usual style when the story and characters serve its purpose but Haywire, like Ocean’s Twelve, is not the right material for that. Moreover, I want to make a point about digital filmmaking and it’s cinematic qualities; this film looked out of place on a big screen, the Red One camera makes the lighting look too flat and almost too real, taking away any cinematic qualities the film may have had. I might enjoy this film better on TV, but the initial damage has been done. I do not and never will advocate digitally downloading new releases, but films which look like Haywire should have their place in that medium.

I don’t want or expect all spy films to copy James Bond or The Bourne trilogy and this is not why I’m against Haywire. I like welcome new styles to familiar stories, but if they don’t work then it’s a case of “nice try, but better luck next time”. The final line in the film is “shit”, which doesn’t quite sum up Haywire, but is not too far from the truth either. Sorry, Steven, but you set yourself up for that one.

Morbometer™: 4.2 out of 10

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

The Week in Spandex – The Dark Knight Rises, Beware the Batman, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, Ghost Rider and more…

2012-01-21T12:44:00.000Z

Presenting our weekly round-up of all the biggest news stories from the world of movie superheroes…

As the comedian W.C. Fields once said, “Never work with children or animals,” and The Dark Knight Rises director Christopher Nolan will have found some truth in that this past week as young actress Joey King revealed what probably constitutes a huge spoiler, if it wasn’t for the fact that just about everyone expected it anyway. “I play young Talia al Ghul,” said King in an interview with My Entertainment World, confirming that the character will make an appearance in the hugely-anticipated sequel. “I can’t give too much away because I promised Mr. Nolan I wouldn’t say anything. There are too many secrets about the character and the movie.” Well, there’s one less now, Joey… So, unless Nolan really surprises everyone and we get to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt in drag, I think it’s safe to say we now know the true identity of Marion Cotillard’s ‘Miranda Tate’.

Although Nolan’s big-screen Batman series will come to an end this summer, Warner Bros Animation are busy prepping a return to Gotham City courtesy of executive producer Glen Murakami (Batman Beyond, Justice League, Teen Titans) with the CG-animated series Beware the Batman. Speaking to MovieWeb, actor Kurtwood Smith - a.k.a. Clarence Boddicker - has provided a brief update on the new show, for which he supplies the voice of Jim Gordon. "We've just started [the show]. We've only recorded two, before Christmas. I like the general thrust of the show. It's early in the Batman story. Commissioner Gordon isn't even Commissioner yet, he's just Lieutenant Gordon. He doesn't trust Batman, even though they kind of end up helping each other out on an early case. Batman, in a lot of ways, is learning his way, and the relationship between he and Alfred is developing. It's fun and it's kind of straight in that regard, as opposed to being campy. I think it's going to be good, but it won't be out for at least a year or so."

Fresh from his success at the Golden Globes last weekend, Luther star Idris Elba told MTV that he's signed on to reprise his role as Heimdall alongside the Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddleston in next year's Marvel sequel Thor 2 - which is now in the hands of director Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones) - although he was 'unsure' if the character would make an appearance in The Avengers this May. In other Avengers-related bits and pieces Tom Hiddleston spoke to Den of Geek about the upcoming superhero team-up during a promotional interview for Steven Spielberg's War Horse, and co-star Chris Evans also had a few words about the film - and Marvel legend Stan Lee - during a chat with FansShare. Finally, fans may want to check out the unveiling of Hasbro's Avengers action-figure line, which occured during a liveblog chat on the official Marvel site on Friday afternoon.

Wrapping up the best of the rest...

...As the clock ticks down to the cinema release of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance next month, SFX Magazine got their hands on a few new images from upcoming film, along with some quotes from co-director Brian Taylor [take a look at the highlights over at ComicBookMovie]. Meanwhile Total Film caught up with star Nicolas Cage, who tried to explain how the latest film differs from Mark Steven Johnson's 2007 original: "I don’t see this as a sequel at all. I see this as Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance. The other movie was Ghost Rider. This movie is Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance." Thanks for clearing that up for us Nic...

...The Amazing Spider-Man swung into Tokyo this past week as stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were joined by producers Avi Arad and Matthew Tolmach for an hour-long press conference to announce the Japanese premiere of the upcoming reboot on June 30th [watch the press conference here]. Elsewhere, director Marc Webb told Collider to expect a second trailer within the next month, with rumours since emerging that it could hit the web on February 9th and may be attached to Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and The Vow in cinemas the following day...

...Last week we heard that Fox were still keen on pushing ahead with their Deadpool feature and now comes a report from The Geek Files claiming that a 'source' has confirmed that Ryan Reynolds is still attached to the X-Men Origins: Wolverine spin-off, while the studio plan to push both Deadpool and The Wolverine into production this year...

…Meanwhile X-Men: First Class star Michael Fassbender has been talking to IFC.com about the proposed sequel to last year’s prequel, stating that he’d like to continue exploring the complex relationship between Magneto and James McAvoy’s Professor X: “It’s not just like clear-cut enemies; they’re best friends as well. In the comic books, even after they’ve had this sort of rift, Professor X asks Magneto to come back and look after the students at certain points… I think there’s always that complexity in their relationship and we want to keep that alive as possible, because that’s I think a really interesting thing - the conflict there…”

…On the subject of sequels, it looks as though we could be getting a follow-up to 2008’s Hancock, with director Peter Berg discussing the possibility in brief update to ComicBookMovie: “We've been talking about the sequel between us, Will Smith, [producers] Michael Mann and Akiva Goldsman and myself. We're all interested, but we literally just have trouble getting into the same room at the same time. We did have a series of meetings last year and started to hash out an idea for sequel - and Will Smith actually had the idea - so I think it will happen, it's just a question of timing…”

…Warner Bros’ Superman reboot Man of Steel has completed filming in Vancouver, with director Zack Snyder and stars such as Henry Cavill, Amy Adams and Michael Shannon now heading to Los Angeles for the final leg of principal photography…

...Shifting to the small screen for a moment and The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the CW network are moving forward with the pilot episode of Green Arrow, albeit under the newly-shortened title of Arrow. According to THR, the show "revolves around the hooded super hero, a wealthy playboy by day who secretly saves the city by night using his enhanced arrows" and is described as "a modern retelling of the legendary comics character..."

…Hero Complex caught up with Harold Perrineau to discuss his voice work in the Blade anime series, with the Lost star admitting that he’d be open to stepping into Wesley Snipes’ shoes for a live-action reboot, should the opportunity arise now that the movie rights have reverted back to Marvel Studios: “You know what … I would shave my head and get into the gym tomorrow if they said that I could play Blade. I’d be in the gym pumping iron, doing kung fu… I would love to play Blade live-action. I think the character is ridiculously cool. I’m never going to be as cool as Wesley Snipes was, but I’d give it a shot…”

...And finally, Quentin Tarantino has revealed his favourite movies of 2011 and there's quite a superhero flavour to his list. X-Men: First Class placed in both his 'Official Top 11' and 'Best Adapted Screenplay' categories, while Captain America: The First Avenger, Green Lantern and The Green Hornet also managed to earn themselves honourable mentions. Guess he’s not a fan of the God of Thunder, then.

Gary Collinson

Holy Franchise, Batman! - Arriving this June.

Win Kevin Smith: Too Fat for 40 on DVD - NOW CLOSED

2012-01-21T09:00:00.001Z

Following the huge success of fan favourites An Evening With Kevin Smith and An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder, the acclaimed filmmaker, writer, actor and raconteur responsible for such diverse movies as Red State, Cop Out, Zack And Miri Make A Porno and Clerks II releases his first new stand-up DVD in five years in the form of Too Fat For 40. Filmed on the evening of Kevin Smith’s 40th birthday before a crowd of rabid fans at the Count Basie Theatre in his home town of Red Bank, New Jersey, this comedy special comes to DVD on 23rd January 2012 (coinciding with the release of Red State on DVD and Blu-ray) as a two-disc edition featuring the full, uncut and unexpurgated three-and-a-half-hour version of Smith’s performance and including a Bonus DVD loaded with extra features including additional encore Q&A footage and a look behind the scenes.

Taking its title from the much-publicized brouhaha (which is hilariously discussed at length during the show) in which Southwest Airlines declared Smith “too fat to fly”, Too Fat for 40 puts the spotlight firmly on Kevin Smith’s brilliantly self-deprecating humour as he pokes fun at his everyday life through anecdotes and yarns all prompted by a one-question audience Q&A.

Absolutely nothing is off limits as Smith discusses very personal and very funny aspects of his private and public life including sex, the problems of being overweight, working with his hero, the late George Carlin, getting stoned with Seth Rogen, being arrested by the Canadian border guards for smuggling, being suspected by the LAPD of child kidnapping and the difficulties of working with a Hollywood superstar of Bruce Willis’ stature – a situation exacerbated by the fact that the Hollywood superstar in question suspects you don’t really know what you are doing. And, naturally, this being Kevin Smith, fellow actor-director and good friend Ben Affleck frequently finds himself in the firing line of Smith’s comedy pot shots.

To be in with a chance of winning, all you need to do is make sure you like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, then send a quick email with your contact details (be sure to include your postal address and Facebook or Twitter username in the email), the subject heading "KEVIN SMITH" and an answer to the following question...

What is the title of Kevin Smith's upcoming two-part hockey movie?

The competition closes at 5pm on Sunday, January 29th. UK entrants only please.

The Prize Finder - UK Competitions
Loquax Competitions

By entering this competition you agree to our terms and conditions, which you can read here.

Movie Review - Abduction (2011)

2012-01-20T11:41:00.000Z

Abduction, 2011.

Directed by John Singleton.
Starring Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, Michael Nyqvist, and Alfred Molina.

SYNOPSIS:

A youth discovers that the people who raised him aren't his real parents, a revalation that leaves him running for his life.

Abduction is the one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. The acting is horrendous, the direction is stilted and devoid of style, the scripts is laughable, and I actually mean you will laugh out loud when you see it because of the horrendously bad dialogue e.g. “I just saw my parents get murdered in front of my own eyes.”

But I had a hell of a lot of fun watching it.

I think it’s really important to first talk about those involved and how they sold out to star alongside the dog from Twilight. John Singleton directs Abduction – yes, the Oscar-nominated director of Boyz n the Hood. He really hasn’t done anything of value since the 90s and let me tell you he brings some hammy and insincere performances from great actors (not in this film but based on their filmography). So instead of his Higher Learning mode we’re seeing him very much in 2 Fast 2 Furious mode. Great actors shamelessly paying for extensions to their houses by starring in this include the wonderful Maria Bello (A History of Violence), intense Jason Isaacs (Good), many-armed Alfred Molina (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spider-Man 2) and alpha female Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Aliens, Ghostbusters).

How does a film manage to be that bad whilst managing to be enjoyable? Well quite simply it’s the way that every frame of the film is just BAD. It’s a holistic kind of horrible that makes you wonder if it was constructed in the mind of a comedic genius ala Rebecca Black’s Friday.

Abduction is the story of the Twilight dog kid, Taylor ‘Abby McAbs’ Lautner, finding his childhood photos on a ‘missing persons’ website and some stuff happening afterwards. I’ll relay some of the biggest highlights in an effort to speak to the films awesome horribleness.

Act 1…

In the first 5 minutes Lautner rides on the bonnet of a car to introduce his totally awesome character, gets thrown onto the front lawn with WWF grace, scowls lots and insists on looking a little Cro-Magnon, meets ‘the girl’ and wakes up after this awesome night shirtless on the front lawn of the host.

Now Jason Isaacs – what do you do if you find you hung-over teenage son on the lawn of some random person after a big night of underage drinking? Definitely an exceptionally brutal kick-boxing session with awesome JCVD slow-mo round house kicks… Oh yeah this happens. And Maria Bello smiles along as it’s happening like a fucking Stepford wife.

Act 2…

After discovering that the Twilight dog is kind of Jason Bourne’s son and that guy from the Swedish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is his Dad’s (and therefore his) nemesis, we have one of the greatest repressed faux sex scenes ever committed to cinema. Abby McAbs and his lady Muppet McEyebrows – seriously this girl has got the same eyebrows as me and Animal from The Muppets (view comparison here) – are in the midst of a heavy make out session when McEyebrows stops McAb’s advances and says “I’m hungry.” I’m hungry?! The scene goes like so – Makeout, Makeout, Grind, Makeout, Makeout “I’m Hungry!” It’s amazing.

Act 3…

It’s the ending you were begging for – awesomely anticlimactic and in a baseball stadium. McAb’s Dad emerges and Dr Claws it from a distance; it felt like I was watching Charlie’s Angels. Oh yeah and he’s so awesome that he kills Blomkvist with great ease (something that the entire CIA couldn’t do throughout the film). Sigourney Weaver stars as Nathan’s therapist (yeah he’s also in therapy for scowling and round-housing as far as I understood) and spy protector who returns from ‘faked’ death in the end to offer Nathan a place to live and scowl. And boy is her delivery ridiculously Mean Girls chipper. This 80s Sci-Fi Queen is reduced to a joke in this performance.

In a screening full of cynical film critics, the laughter started early in this one. My lady hit me for laughing in the beginning and very quickly found herself laughing uncontrollably too. The more the movie played, the worse and more implausible the story, the more laughter heard reverberating throughout. By the end as the credits rolled there was a standing ovation in the cinema (started by me).

It has to be seen to be believed. Seen right in front of your own eyes. I had a hell of a lot of fun watching this Cleveland Steamer.

Blake Howard is a writer/site director/podcaster at the castleco-op.com. Follow him on Twitter here: @BLAGatCCO.

Films To Watch Before You Die #50 - Black Hawk Down (2001)

2012-01-20T07:41:00.000Z

D.J. Haza presents the fiftieth entry in his series of films to watch before you die...

Black Hawk Down, 2001.

Directed by Ridley Scott.
Starring Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Sam Shepard, Ewen Bremner, Gabriel Casseus, Hugh Dancy, Ioan Gruffudd, Jason Isaacs, Orlando Bloom, Tom Hardy and Matthew Marsden.

Black Hawk Down is the cinematic depiction of the Battle of Mogadishu. As the Americans make a move to capture the Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid one man falls from a helicopter in the middle of the city and severely hurts his back. As Humvees are deployed from the American’s base at Mogadishu airport a Black Hawk helicopter is shot down by an RPG. The Humvees on route to pick up the fallen soldier are sent off track by a range of roadblocks and militia barricades. They become lost in the violent city and suffer heavy casualties.

As some of the American Army Rangers get to the crash site and set up a perimeter another Black Hawk is shot down. With the team heading to help at the crash sites pinned down and engaged in gunfire neither of the crash sites can get much support apart from two snipers being dropped at the second crash site. As both sites are overrun the soldiers at the second site are killed or captured and those at the first site hold on through the night taking heavy fire. Only a few make it back alive.

The film although telling a true story, was not entirely accurate and its critics say it concentrates on the 19 Americans that died and not the Somalis, of up to possibly 2000, who were killed in the battle or the efforts of the Pakistani military who rescued many of the men who made it out. As you can imagine it hasn’t been well received in Somalia.

Black Hawk Down is a fantastic film that you must see before you die as it really brings home the pressure those soldiers found themselves under amidst heavy gunfire and little options. The frenetic directing really gives audiences a point of view of American soldiers caught in close quarters battle and the film was a massive box office success grossing almost $173,000,00.

D.J. Haza

Follow my blog at http://djhaza.blogspot.com/
Follow me at http://www.facebook.com/djhaza

365 Days, 100 Films #91 - Une Femme est une Femme (1961)

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000Z

Une Femme est une Femme (a.k.a. A Woman Is a Woman), 1961.

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
Starring Jean-Claude Brialy, Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

SYNOPSIS:

This isn’t just any musical comedy. This is a Godardian musical comedy.

“Émile and Angéla’s greatest flaw is that ‘They wrongly believe there are no limits to their everlasting and reciprocal love.’”

These words are printed onscreen at one point during Une Femme est une Femme (A Woman is a Woman). Angéla (Anna Karina) and her lover Émile (Jean-Claude Brialy) are in a rare moment of agreement when it does. For the rest of the film, they bicker. They argue and they fight and they quarrel, seemingly without end in that specifically 60s kind of campiness.

Angéla wants to have a baby. When? Now, tonight. Don’t be ridiculous, is Émile’s main defence. There is no foreground or exposition to their relationship prior to this discussion, bar a frosty exchange of glares in a Parisian book shop. Godard presents these two characters to us as warring from the start, as though they have been at it since the dawn of time. Une Femme est une Femme is only the most recent battle in the eternal conflict of Man Vs. Woman.

Émile’s best friend, Alfred (Jean-Paul Belmondo), complicates things. He insists that he’s madly in love with Angéla, sometimes even in Émile’s presence. Alfred pops up between the two when they storm off from one another, mischievously either trying to pick up girls with Émile, or charm Angéla into bed, like some enchanted Puck, toying with the emotions of these two mere mortals.

Alfred is a notorious namedropper, behaving with Jean-Luc Godard, the film’s director, like a couple of arrogant school boys. À bout de souffle, the pair’s first film together, plays on a television in the background at one point, Belmondo appearing on both screens. He suggests they all go to see a film that has just come out because “my pal Burt Lancaster is in it” – at which point he stares directly at the camera, pulling a grin cheesier than Brie.

However, the self-reflexivity is not limited to just one character. Both Émile and Angéla constantly break the fourth wall, directly addressing the camera or sharing with it a disdainful look. Before one of their fierce arguments, Angéla tells Émile that they should “bow before we act out our farce”. Both turn and bow to the camera, and then back again to face each other as though nothing happened. “Why don’t you love me!?” Angéla immediately reprises. It’s an explicit statement to the viewer of how we watch these characters’ torment as entertainment. It’s an odd position to be put in, but from the awkwardness, a self-realising laugh arises.

The film’s form itself joins in on the self-reflexivity. Essentially, Une Femme est une Femme is Godard’s parody of this musical genre. Dramatic music will underpin the most ordinary of exchanges, the humour being in the juxtaposition. “Would you like lamb?” Angéla enquires about Émile’s dinner for the night, accompanied by the grandest of orchestral scores usually reserved for Hollywood’s most emotional moments.

Godard tinkers with the soundtrack with the same mischievousness of his characters. A particular scene will begin normally enough, with dialogue, background noise and a musical score – but then everything will fall mute, then just diegetic sound, and then only the music. Like the stopping and starting of a traffic jam, you’re prevented from becoming involved in the narrative. Watching these scenes becomes a frustrating chore, but that’s Godard’s intent. You’d like to think it’s because of some majestic deconstruction of the use of music in film, revealing how a score can affect one’s perception of a scene, or perhaps a distancing example of Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt to make you better understand the cinematic apparatus of which you are a part. More likely, however, it’s Godard’s childish side wanting to see how far he can annoy his audience, cheekily searching for a reaction or a storming out. There is something remarkably admirable about such playfulness, and, for me, it is his greatest trait.

“Why aren’t you sulking?”

“I’m not sulking so you won’t sulk.”

“I’ve finished sulking”

“My turn to sulk, then.”

The above exchange encapsulates the recurring narrative of Émile and Angéla’s relationship, as it does of most couple’s. The initial disagreement is over whether to have a child, but their arguments riff into countless other territories. It’s difficult to keep up with them, and you find yourself not knowing what they’re bickering about. But then again, maybe neither do they.

Yet their quarrelling does have a constant theme: who loves the other more? When you care for someone deeply, it is often easy to assume you love them far more than they do you. It creates a love deficit that is exercised and, hopefully, reassured by these disagreements over nothing. That’s why neither wants to give in, as both feel they should receive an apology; that both require reciprocation, a vindication, of their love. Arguments are a vital necessity in relationships.

Comedy or tragedy? the film constantly asks. Without the music and the campiness, it could easily be the latter. And that’s Une Femme est une Femme most astute insight: relationships are both.

RATING ****

Oli Davis

365 Days, 100 Films

It’s ‘About Time’ for Richard Curtis’ new film

2012-01-19T20:42:00.002Z

Three years after his last movie release, Richard Curtis is set to direct a new British film from his own script called About Time, which is being billed as a low-budget time travel dramady. The project is currently in pre-production with Working Title Films and casting is now getting underway ahead of filming in the summer.

Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films have worked together with Richard Curtis on both of the big-screen films he has directed, producing Love Actually and The Boat That Rocked. Details about the plot haven’t yet been revealed but Curtis may have been influenced by writing an episode of the time travel TV show Doctor Who.

He most recently wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s War Horse and is working on a number of other projects including a new collaboration with his Blackadder co-writer Ben Elton, rom com Lost For Words, and Trash for Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry (The Reader, The Hours, Billy Elliot).

Emma Hutchings