Those of you who read my MacGruber preview will already know that I was, against my better judgement, looking forward to the latest feature length offering from the current minds behind Saturday Night Live. Those of you who didn’t read it can go fuck yourself.
Since watching the movie I have been trying to place it within the catalogue of SNL adaptations and I think it’s safe to say it’s certainly no Wayne’s World. However, despite failing to turn a profit on its meek $10 million budget in the US it’s also, thankfully, no Night at the Roxbury either.
In 1967 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner garnered both critical and popular acclaim, even earning Katherine Hepburn the second of her four Academy Awards. These days however, there are elements of the film which do not sit so well with contemporary audiences but an understanding of the political and social climate into which the film was released accords us an degree of objectivity and understanding. All this would leave you to believe that in forty three years things had moved on somewhat. You’d be wrong. Our Family Wedding is the first offering from director Rick Famuyiwa in eight years. What Famuyiwa was doing in that time I’m not sure but it obviously wasn’t working on the films screenplay.
The Wire has been given a lot of press attention and critical acclaim. And rightly so. It’s ridiculously great storytelling, impeccably put together and as addictive as heron. But it’s also had a rather adverse effect on the world of film. It’s not The Wire‘s fault but over the past few years certain films (Pride and Glory, American Gangster) have tried to ape the maginificent show, and also many of it’s network’s (HBO) product. The most obvious example of this, Brooklyn’s Finest is in cinemas now.
The biggest reason why Cinema can’t be HBO, at almost almost 60 hours, almost 3853 minutes, The Wire has literally days to tell it’s complete story. Brooklyn’s Finest has a little over two hours. But it doesn’t stop deluded film-makers trying.
How do you find Will Smith in the snow? Look for Fresh Prints. Hahahahahahhahahhahahha!
Okay, okay, it’s not really a short film but if this doesn’t cheer you up on a Wednesday then you’re probably going a bit head-mental from constant vuvuzela abuse.
I wish I could actually name-check the young chap doing this but alas my googling abilities came up short. But not only props to the kid for a pitch perfect Ian impression but also being a snappy tie-wearing motherfucker. A tie! On Youtube! Fresh indeed.
Got any tips for movie related tiny videos. Get in touch and we’ll stick ‘em up.
We’re all very lucky. We live in a world brimming with lovely tits. All the shapes, sizes and shades imaginable exist somewhere in the glorious diversity that is the human genome. Viva la boobie! Whilst I’m of the opinion that all tits should be celebrated on merit of their existence alone (imagining the immense evolutionary chain stretching back over the eons from simple milk dispensing teats, through sexual and natural selection to form the modern homosapien mammary is the closest I’ve come to “know the mind of god” (:Hawking: “A brief history of time”.) There are of course notable exceptions that require special appreciation. Which leads me to the main point of this essay, the tip top, or top tips if you will. Pam Grier’s.
I can see in my mind’s eye, your brain racing, synapses firing full throttle trying to think of a superior pair and maybe you can. Or at least you think you can. I intend to prove you wrong.
World Cup fever is upon us but there is another major event that is causing a very different demographic to salivate this month; the release of the third instalment of the Twilight saga Eclipse is upon us. The film won’t hit the cinema till the 3rd of July (the US gets it a few days earlier, 30th June) however like the merchandise juggernaut that it is the soundtrack has been released almost a month in advance. I’m a self-confessed soundtrack junkie so this is the part of the world of Twilight that I look forward to as much as the next fan girl.
The importance of music to the series begins first not with the films but with the books, Meyer states that she can not write without music and has compiled playlists for each novel on her website which you can peruse yourself if you really want to. The common theme amongst these is Muse and this can be seen on the soundtracks for the films, with ‘Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever) featuring on the Eclipse soundtrack. There have been mutterings online that Matt Bellamy was less than kind to the franchise, though all I found was a quote about how he doesn’t mind if it seems uncool to gain new fans due to Twilight.
It’s easy to knock Noel Clarke. The first reason, being the bright young thing of the UK film scene, he most probably has Danny Dyer’s mobile number on speed dial having starred with the feckless wonder on two occasions. Secondly, walking amoebas like Peter Andre cite him as “a hero”. Thirdly he won the Orange Rising Star BAFTA, sandwiched between unworthy victors Shia The Beef and Kristen Stewart.
So it’d be easy to knock Noel Clarke. Easy, but wrong. Look beneath the rather attractive surface and he’s actually the definition of a grafter. The youngest looking 35-year-old on God’s green Earth he has the whiff of a meteroic rise about him even if the facts speak otherwise. Stints in British shit TV staples such as Casualty, The Bill and even Doctors litter his early career until he pulled himself a Good Will Hunting and decided to write a film based on his life experiences. Success, both financial and critical, swiftly followed.
Kidulthood will have it’s detractors. It featured “Nah wat I mean bruv?” dialogue that usually ushers a reply of “Well not really my dear” from anyone outside of London who wasn’t talk to speak English via SMS and it featured the kind of dramatic teenage years that even Skins script-writers may consider a tad far-fetched. It was, if nothing else, refreshingly different.
Going into a film whose cast boasts the stars of low rent comedies like Big Momma’s House, Scary Movie, Down to Earth and this week’s Cop Out my expectations were, as you’d expect, rock bottom. Having said that, as a big fan of The [American] Office I am perhaps a little more tolerant of American remakes than most.
Although the film boasts a substantial, if mediocre ensemble cast it seems to centre around Chris Rock in a uncharacteristically straight role as the much put upon son of a recently deceased family man. Things go from bad to worse for Rock’s Aaron when his dysfunctional friends and family begin arriving for the funeral. Throw into the mix a geriatric Danny Glover, a hallucinating James Marsden and a homosexual dwarf with a penchant for extortion and a picture starts to form in your mind as to what the film entails.
I used to be the type of person who just didn’t do horror films. I was squeamish and petrified with fear at the thought of watching them. I glimpsed a bit of the original Nightmare on Elm Street when I was young and couldn’t sleep without a crucifix near the bed for quite some time. Then I did something both brave and foolish, I watched the 1974 Texas Chain Saw Massacre, by myself at night, in my mid teens. It freaked me out so much I had to watch Austin Powers afterwards for some comic relief, but, since then, my horror film capability has changed.
Now, I have watched many a horror film and thought “That was a bit cheesy”, “That is what they’re afraid of?” and (in a sarcastic tone) “Wow. Didn’t see that coming!” Obviously there are a few exceptions to this rule, but I find that most of these exceptions tend to be filmic contributions from countries where English is not the first (or only) language. This leads me nicely to [REC] 2.
Roughly thirteen years ago a young Christopher Nolan banded together with a selection of his friends and associates in an attempt to write, produce and direct a feature length movie. The result was Following, a black and white exploration of the voyeuristic side of the human condition. In the film a naive young writer becomes entangled with a charismatic career criminal named ‘Cobb’.
Jump forward to 2010 and it would seem that Nolan’s career has come full circle. Inception marks what is albeit, a hi-concept return to that original story with Leonardo DiCaprio now donning the moniker of Cobb whom the newly released banners have labelled ‘The Extractor’.
