Years of working in a cinema have afforded me an uncanny ability to sift through the sweeping quantities of utter shite that roll off the Hollywood production line but every now and then I am lured into an auditorium under false pretences. In this case the pretence being that Book of Eli, the latest offering from the Hughes Brothers, was more than just a hashed out attempt to cash in on the latest trend for post-apocalyptic salvation movies.
The only thing more perplexing than the film’s absurd twist is just how the film’s producers managed to convince actors of the calibre of Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and Michael Gambon to sign up for a film with a soul as baron and void as its landscape.
(more…)
Favourite Films
The Book of Eli
History of the Vampire Film
With the release of Daybreakers and the current Twilight saga in full swing the vampire’s charm seems as enticing as ever for cinema goers, so here’s a not so little history of the evolution of this immortal creatures place in cinema.
From the Ancient Greek bloodsuckers Empusa and Lamia to modern day half human, soulless, zombie hybrids the idea of monsters living by night and sucking our blood seems to be woven into the collective subconscious. But the forms these fiends have taken and the ‘rules’ of their existence and possible demise are as varied as the hundreds of cultures they derive from. From having iron teeth to having the ability to turn into a firefly, any number of supernatural capabilities can be attributed to what we would call vampires. So the next time some smug know-it-all tells you that vampires don’t have a reflection or that they always sleep in a coffin or even that they can’t go out in the day feel free to don your best Stephen Fry manner and politely tell them to go suck themselves.
All that said it is generally accepted that the vampires of popular western fiction are based on the ‘vampirs’ of medieval Serbia and Bulgaria. This is certainly the basis for the two books that did such a huge amount to popularize the genre in the West, John Polidori’s 1819 The Vampyre and the better known Dracula by Bram Stoker from 1897, and it is from these that Hollywood takes its cues. (more…)
Top Five Snowball Fight Scenes
In tribute to this apocalyptic ‘big freeze’ the media keep going on about I thought i’d waste some time compiling a list of my top snowball fight scenes.
5) Monsters Inc
Not so much a snow ball fight, more a snow ball assault this one. Banished to the Himalayas by their double crossing boss, Mike Wazowski and his collegue James P. Sullivan find themselves sheltering in the cosy cavern of the infamous Abominable Snowman. Whilst Sulley searches frantically for a way back to Monstropolis Mike deals with the problem in his own, less proactive way i.e. a tirade of abuse directed at his oldest pal. Sulley is unphased by Mike’s rant and continues his search causing Mike to finally snap and begin pelting his friend with some unnervingly yellow snow.
The 5 Little Films Of 2010
Just think by the end of this year we could have a Tory government. Just like the one we’ve got now! Boom! Satire bursting forth from my keypad to your unprepared face! Didn’t see that coming did you?!
Anyway, as I was saying, soon we could have a Conservative government and then small-scale independent film can thrive again as we all hold hands and try to bring down the Cameron Obscura (because he ‘obscures’ his policies! Fuck me I’m on a roll!) with right-wing hating social commentary movies. That’ll be fun.
For now though here’s a handful of Indie-type, lowscale films that might just be worth a watch.
The 5 Big Films Of 2010
As the huge Facebook group to get me to fill Jonathan Ross’s vacant hole gathers pace (click here to join the 20 or so people that I’ve brainwashed), I haven’t forgotten my loyal following on NME.
So here I am to help you separate the wheat from the chaff in movieland this year. A place that, for once, isn’t just regurgitating the stomach lining of sequel-dom. In fact a whole ONE film in this list isn’t based on a computer game, or an adaptation, or a previous cinematic incarnation, or is actually a sequel. Thanks Hollywood!
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
This is the film that I have probably watched the most yet I never tend to watch the entire film (I have seen the entire film as a whole many times as well), I have a habit of skipping the part where the relationship between Joel and Clementine starts to crumble.
This in itself a strange act to do in a film that is about getting rid of the memories of a relationship that has ended, I edit a film that is about editing life, I just don’t like to see the bitterness and the negativity between the two leads, in this case I am the child shielded from the divorce of their parents (for the record my parents are still together). I also think it may have something to do with the fact that my favourite scene in the film is the point that Joel realises that he doesn’t want Clementine erased, and it is the ‘ugly Clementine’ doll story that is what does it for me, the moment when she becomes vulnerable and lays herself out for him to see beyond the crazy hair colours and wacky ideas.
The Road
5 Minutes into The Road a man shows his son two bullets in a revolver and details how his son should use one to take his own life. 10 minutes in and the father is pointing the gun at his son’s head, mustering up the courage to pull the trigger.
The Road is not a happy film. (more…)
Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll
2010 began almost exactly where 2009 ended, with a biopic of a pioneering British music icon. Whilst Sam Taylor Wood’s Nowhere Boy was meditative and tonally steady, Ian Dury biopic Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll is a collage of colour and destruction that tramples through key points of Dury’s haphazard life. Director Mat Whitecross’ experience in the editing room has surved him well as he imbues the film with a topsy turvy timeline which just about works although it is probably a daring decision rather than a smart one.
What has no doubt prevented this film from the doldrums of TV movie hood is the performance of Andy Serkis as the eponymous Blockheads front man.
(more…)
Suits You Sir: Iron Man 2 Preview
Back in 2008 John Favreau’s Iron Man became the first movie produced in house at Marvel Studios. Despite not having the experience of the big studios like Fox or Paramount stalwart producers like Avi Arad and Kevin Feige have themselves garnered a wealth of Hollywood experience over the past decade. It would appear that said experience translated directly into box office revenue as Iron Man proved to be the second most popular movie of 2008 beating the likes of Quantum of Solace, Twilight, and Indiana Jones 4 into submission. Box Office Success paired with the fact that Marvel were now in control of their own properties have lead inevitably to a sequel, a sequel which seems to be widely welcomed by critics and fans alike.
(more…)