Supposedly, George Clooney has wanted to work with Alexander Payne since 2004. Back when Payne was crafting his first Oscar winner Sideways, it’s reported that Gorgeous George declared his interest in the role of Jack. Payne did the unthinkable, rebuffing Clooney in favour of a lesser known actor and the role eventually fell to Thomas Hayden Church. Church knocked it out of the park and went on to collect a well deserved Oscar nomination in the process. Whether or not Clooney could have pipped Morgan Freeman to the 2005 award we’ll never know but, one thing’s for sure, he’s the man to beat in 2011.
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Favourite Films
The Descendants Review
Blu-ray Preview: 23/1/12
Only those closest to me know that my full name is actually Bernard Lewis Raymond Swift. So, when Sony offered to name their latest technological leap after me, I was incredibly flattered. After a brief market scrap with the boringly titled HD DVD, B-Lew-Ray became the dominant HD home entertainment format of choice ,and as prices drop, the format is threatening to overtake DVD as the new standard.
Of course, fifty percent of that last paragraph was bull shit but I promise that what follows will be a combination of facts and personal opinions that will hopefully allow you to optomise your spending in this period of economic crisis. As you might expect, the weeks directly following the festive period tend to be a little thin on the ground regarding big releases but there is at least, this coming week, a vast cocktail of titles coming your way.
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“We just come from a bad place.” – a look at Steve McQueen’s ‘Shame’
Over the last few years or so, it seems that the meaning of taboo has gotten lost. For the most part, we have become desensitised to extreme violence and sexual content. Hell, violence is becoming forever sexualised, with sex being occasionally and manipulatively violencised (I’m not the first person on the internet to ever use that word before). And religion? You can pretty much say or depict it in any way you please without hardly offending anyone, it seems. That infamous scene in 1971′s ‘Straw Dogs’ has become entirely socially irrelevant. In fact, not only has it been all but forgotten about, it’s been remade this past year to the sound of little controversy. Where a certain film’s graphic scenes of torture once ignited conversation about how they made us squirm, we all now laugh at the many sequels that followed, praising the most creative ways in which a filmmaker can take a life. So what is left to shock us? What is left to challenge our principles and arouse what is left of our senses?
Jean Dujardin: Is History On His Side?
There’s been substantial debate amongst my peers and I, as to whether or not Jean Dujardin could actually win the Best Actor Oscar. As we await this years nominations it’s safe to say he’s going to be up against it. If the Golden globes are anything to go by he’s likely to be up against five of the biggest names in the business. Whilst Dujardin should walk the Globes only ‘Comedy Musical category’ when the Academy inevitably make their selection from the Globes’ ten, the Frenchman is going to have to userp one of either Clooney, Pitt, DiCaprio, Gosling or Fassbender in order to make the final five. It’s a tough ask but it made me curious about just how often international performances are recognised by the academy. What follows is the fruits of my diligent labour which I have collated for your statistical pleasure.
The Artist – Review
It would seem that contemporary Hollywood’s current love affair with the silent era isn’t going away anytime soon. Following on from last years Hugo, a love letter from Scorsese to pioneer Georges Méliès, this weekend sees the release of Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist.
2012: An Alternative Preview
With the new year just around the corner every movie mag, website and jaded film studies graduate will be spouting off about which films you should be getting excited about next year. In my extensive (read ‘not very extensive’) research, most articles seem to be understandably focussing on the same five or six movies (Spiderman, Hobbit, Avengers, Prometheus, Hunger Games, Dark Knight etc). Here at This Film Is On however, we like to do things a bit differently (Just look at Owen’s beard). So, with all this in mind here’s five films that you’ve probably already heard about but have hopefully forgotten about.
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ThisFilmIsOn Rises… as does The Dark Knight
In the words of Rakim and Eric B, “It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you, without a strong rhyme to step to”. Well, maybe not “rhyme”, but “insightful, occasionally humourous, entirely unedited movie opinion” to step to. So after almost a full year away, we’re back. Like The Dark Knight, bread in the oven and my penis when I see Anne Hathaway, ThisFilmIsOn will rise once more.
And quite frankly we couldn’t be back for a better year. 2012 may not provide the culmination of all human history but if it did, and as long as the big movies of the year live up to expectation, it wouldn’t be a bad way to go. Prometheus, The Amazing Spider-man, The Hobbit, The Avengers, The Dark Knight and that’s just the multiplex nomming blockbusters.
Elsewhere we’ll have new Coens (Gambit), new Pixar (Brave), Cameron Crowe’s latest (We Bought A Zoo), hopefully some more Charlie Kaufman and a film based on an internet meme about a time-travelling nutjob. If that’s a success then it won’t be long before Missing Missy makes the bigscreen. To start the year you also get The Muppets. Which I’ve seen and can confirm is as heart-tuggingly lovely as a furry, felt aorta massage.
But right now, It’s all about one thing…Batman! Enjoy the latest trailer below. Just don’t think about the half a year you have to survive before you get to see the damn thing.
Vote In The Second Annual ‘Onnies’
In Sir William Goldman’s book of essays on Hollywood, The Big Picture, (I added the Sir) the screenwriter repeatedly eschews the virtues of the Academy Awards. Happy to admit they are tacky and crass, it’s the importance of them that must not be forgotten. They are after all, “the lead phrase in most obituaries.”
They also, always, provoke rage and bile like no other awards (the comical Globes just provoke distain) but most importantly, they get people talking about movies. And if you’re on this site, either as a first timer or repeated reader, you’re here because you love talking about movies.
Today you don’t have to just talk. Today you get to vote. And in a move tantamount to the most charitable piece of giving since Mother Teresa invented text message donations we’ve given you the option of adding your own opinion. Please use it carefully, all votes for The Bounty Hunter will not only be ignored but we’ll also send ‘Dog’ round to your house.
Results will be announced Oscar Night so hit us back, in the meantime. Let the voting commence.
Boardwalk Empire
It is fitting that when Sky launched their new channel Sky Atlantic on Tuesday, the show that headlined the evening was set in Atlantic City. Boardwalk Empire, depicting the vast social changes in 1920s America hit the small screen this week and did so with all the pomp and flair of an illicit prohibition era party.
The Year That Comedy Dies And Drama Thrives: Golden Globes
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.