Favourite Films

The Best Speeches in Film

By
07/01/11

Opening this weekend is the truly ruddy wonderful The King’s Speech. The truly ruddy wonderful Lewis Swift reviewed it on this here site, so take a peak around, read his critique then follow his advice; Go see it. There are a number of reasons why, great performances, a lovely central friendship, fantastic production, Guy Pearce brief spell ‘King-ing’ and the wee ickle girl from Outnumbered as a young Princess Margaret but its main pulling point; the power of words.

ks

As the deeply irritating, helium voiced muppets, The Bee Gees sang “It’s only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away.” Whilst the end result of The King’s Speech is that he managed to get the words over his tongue, ultimately if he was just dictating a recipe for a cracking Toad in the Hole the film wouldn’t be worth a damn. Those words helped scared British residents feel a little less so.

As celluloid speeches go, however, it’s not quite up there with these humdingers. And no, there is no Braveheart.

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The Year That Comedy Dies And Drama Thrives: Golden Globes

By
15/12/10

It’s been too long, my dear friends. Firstly, let me briefly apologise for my lack of content over the last year. As important as my writing is to me, I just haven’t been able to find the time to keep my blog going with the consistency that it had this time last year. Saying that, it’s awards season.

Following the first few critics’ associations pitching in with their end-of-year awards, today brings the first real signs of spring. The Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning and let me tell you, there were some truly shocking inclusions as well as some pleasantly surprising (but half-expected) ones. Sitting comfortably? The Thisfilmison Road To The Oscars begins now…

    BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

BLACK SWAN
THE FIGHTER
INCEPTION
THE KING’S SPEECH
THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Four out of these five were no-brainers. ‘The Social Network’ has been cleaning up at the critics’ awards so far so will be regarded as the front runner by a whisker, but only because ‘The King’s Speech’ is yet to receive it’s general release. Early reviewers have been nothing short of astounded with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush’s performances being hailed as ‘magnificent’, so expect a heavily contested race come January.

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“I owe everything to George Bailey. Help him, dear Father”

By
14/12/10

Life, to state the bleeding obvious, isn’t like the movies. Sure you can replicate moments; a first kiss with a new love or paintballing, covered in mud playing Rambo. But realistically whatever your pursuits, everyday life can’t quite live up to our silver screen expectations.

jimmy

This Christmas, however you can play a bit-part in replicating the most beloved of all the Holiday films; It’s A Wonderful Life. If the opening words “I owe everything to George Bailey. Help him, dear Father” gets you welling up instantly then here’s a story for you. The Jimmy Stewart Museum celebrating the life and films of one of the greatest actors of all time may be set to close it’s doors due to lack of funding. They need your help to keep going.

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My Potter Vitriol: Or How I Learned to Keep Worrying And Still Hate Harry Potter

By
19/11/10

There are times as a writer when you know that with every word you type you’ll be making someone, somewhere very unhappy. Quite honestly this can be a lot of fun, especially when you set your sights on an entire fanbase. So without further ado, 5 of the best reasons to dislike Harry Potter.

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1) “But if you’d read the book first!”
The number one excuse to any Potter criticism of weak characterization, rushed scenes and a general feeling of boredom is that I should have previously sat down and churned my way through 7 novels at over 400 pages each. My response. Fuck You! Why should I have to do homework before I watch a movie? It wasn’t necessary for me to read Mein Kampf before appreciating Downfall. I didn’t need to move to New York, offer people lifts and hang around with child prostitutes to see that Taxi Driver is a work of art. A good film should speak for itself. Teach you something you didn’t know. Not demand prior reading.

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The Best Students In Film

By
12/11/10

“In England, at any rate, education provides no effect whatsoever. If it did it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and would probably lead to acts of violence in Grovesnor Square”. Oscar Wilde said that. In 1895. 115 years ago.

fb

It’s probably best not to applaud the small instances of smashing things up this week in the name of literacy, numeracy and the ability to dissect everything from frogs to movies, but to condemn the student protests as “deplorable” because a window was smashed and a bobby’s hat got knocked off seems a little on the reactionary front. Regardless of your standpoint that dick with a fire extinguisher is still a dick.

But let’s not tar all ‘yoot’ below the age of 21 as drug-crazed, morons with no purpose other than to kick off of a bit. Most of them, especially the one’s in movie-land, are pretty bloody wonderful.

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Saw 3D and What If…Other Films Had Too Many Sequels

By
27/10/10

Preceding the first Million Pound Drop, the Davina McCall hosted quiz show where unfortunate members of the British public are baited with actual, cold, hard cash, only to have their hopes and dreams literally fall away in front of them, whilst we folks at home chuckle heartily at their misfortune, was a trailer question asking, “Which horror film has had the most sequels?

saw

The options were as follows…
A)Nightmare On Elm Street
B)Halloween
C)Friday the 13th
D)Saw

If you’d have answered, D) Saw, you’d now be staring at a large hole in the ground, the end of your relationship, widespread ridicule from your peers and a possible nervous breakdown.

More to the point though, how many bloody sequels does one film need?

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What If Your Favourite Films Had Their Budgets Slashed?

By
21/10/10

Depending on your political preference and/or apathy, yesterday’s governmental spending review was either;
a) Necessary, fair and will bring Britain back from the brink (nice alliteration Georgie),
b) Too fast, too deep (creepily sexual Alan) and likely to make Britain resemble Pottersville from ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’,
or
c) Just another part in the never-ending cycle of politics where one party gets a chance to mess things up for a bit until everyone gets bored and votes in the other lot. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The Cuts Will Be This Big
“The Cuts Will Be THIS Big”

Forgive us our cynicism, as we here at ThisFilmIsON attempt to make light of the fact that close to 1,000,000 of our fellow Britons face redundancy and let’s instead take a wry look at how our favourite films would look with a hairy giant axe-wound in them. No you grow up.

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The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin and The Five Scripts Ever Aspiring Writer Needs To Have Read

By
07/10/10

“Did you hear the one about the blonde who was so dumb she slept with the screenwriter…”

As industry jokes go, that one is top of the pile. It proves quite succinctly that the life of a screenwriter is not a happy one. With so many amateur writers submitting literally thousands of scripts every day, an aspiring writer may never get theirs read. If it is read and doesn’t meet all the criteria needed by about page 10, it will almost certainly be binned. If it isn’t binned but completely read through and liked, but doesn’t fit in with the current climate it won’t be bought. If it is bought, it still may never get made. If it is made it’s quite likely that other writers will be drafted in to re-write. If the re-write leaves any of your original characters and themes remaining and the film is a success, finally the credit will go to… the directors, producers, actors, cinematographers, best boys, grips, frankly anyone but you.

face

Unless of course you’re Aaron Sorkin. With the exception of Charlie Kaufman (although he, like many writers, has chosen to direct his latest projects) Sorkin is a ‘name’ in screenwriting terms. Now The West Wing creators script for The Social Network is gaining as much praise as David Fincher’s direction, being hyperbolied, as “smart and canny”, “absorbing and nuanced” and that it “boasts enough great dialogue to fuel a half dozen Oscar-bait movies”. He’s the closest thing to a screenwriter as celebrity as you can get.

Yet regardless of fame, wealth or respect if you were the screenwriter of one the films listed below, creator of one of the following characters or even conjuror of just one line of dialogue in the preceeding cinematic delights, nothing would compare to that honour, that knowledge that you, above anyone else, were the true creator.

Still wouldn’t help you get laid though.

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Can The Rest Of 2010 Save Cinema From An Annus Horribilis?

By
28/09/10

With the news that The Hobbit is taking one step there and two steps back again one of the most sought after films on the horizon looks unlikely to hit our screens any time soon. A crying shame for film fans that are looking for something, anything to look forward to, after what has been a year substantially lacking in lustre.

due

Inception and Toy Story 3 aside 2010 has offered very little so far in terms of history making cinema, blockbusting thrills or quotable comedies. With 3 months to go can this change, can 2010 go out in style?

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The Hole 3D And How Kid’s Films Are As Scary As Adult Ones

By
27/09/10

When I was but 10 years old my parents foolishly left me alone with a remote control and a television. Feeling more than a little mature with this newfound responsibility I immediately decided to challenge my ‘grown upness’ by watching the first part of Stephen King’s It. Big mistake. What followed was plenty of sleepness nights, a new (completely rational) fear of clowns and an even bigger mistake by my parents: they didn’t let me watch part two.

it

Huge parental failing on their part because if they had done I would have discovered that scary Clown-man turns into stupid, rubbish Spider-monster and most importantly, that the kids were alright. Instead I had years of letting my imagination get the better of me in relation to circus folk living in my school’s shower.

20 years and one resurgent Joe Dante picture later, and that imagination is still maintaining a level of dampness in my now adult pants.
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