In this video a young Tanzanian boy explains the 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Commando.
It is the first in a series of videos for the Stop the Pity. Unlock the Potential campaign for the charity Mama Hope which seeks to re-humanize Africa as more than a place suffering from corruption and poverty.
> Find out more about the Mama Hope campaign
> Commando at the IMDb
One of the best films of 2010 gets a solid array of features including an excellent making of documentary.
The Social Network begins with Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) getting dumped by a girl (Rooney Mara) which prompts him to hack in to the campus computer network as revenge, whilst blogging about his reasons for doing so.
This brings him to the attention ofĀ Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (played by Armie Hammer) and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella), who approach him with the idea of a social network site, but Zuckerberg opts to create his own version with the help of his friend Eduardo Severin (Andrew Garfield).
Originally calledĀ TheFacebook it is an instant success at Harvard and campuses across the US, which leads Zuckerberg to California where entrepreneur and Napster co-founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) helps him approach investors.
The narrative is intercut with flashforwards to various legal depositions, in which characters explain the conflicts which would later arise, with the Winklevoss twins and Narenda claiming Zuckerberg stole their idea, whilst Severin (who initially bankrolled the site) falls out with Zuckerberg over Parkerās influence.
Aaron Sorkin’s sculpted rat-a-tat dialogue provides a mixture of humour, pathos and insight in presenting what Facebook did to the founders, as well as the overall ironies for them and the wider culture that embraced it.
David Fincher might also seem aĀ counter-intuitiveĀ choice, but aside from directing with his customary skill and taste, he manages to ramp up the drama by keeping things simple and focused.Ā Compared to his previous work it moves quickly and the editing and structure all ground the information in a tight and engrossing package.
The director’s customary dark visual palette is on display again, but the balanced compositions from cinematographerĀ Jeff Cronenweth nicely dovetail the crispness of the digital images, which were shot on theĀ Red One digital camera.
Building on the visual look of the film, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross provide aĀ wonderfully discordant score which not only complements the action but feels like a groundbreaking use of music in a mainstream film.
The performances are excellent across the board: Eisenberg hits the right notes as a brilliant and surprisingly sympathetic anti-hero, Garfield depicts the dry wit and regret of the forgotten man in Facebook’s creation; Armie Hammer (with the help of SFX wizardy) is terrific in the dual role of the ‘Winklevii’ and Justin Timberlake isĀ surprisinglyĀ strong as the rebelliousĀ entrepreneur Sean Parker.
Like Fincher’s Zodiac (2007) Ā is a densely constructed film that plays very well on repeated viewings.
For some it will be the cautionary parable of a website which connected over 500 million virtual friends which also broke up the actual friends that created it.
For others Mark Zuckerberg could become likeĀ Gordon Gekko, an unlikely figure of inspiration to a generation who use technology to change old assumptions and beliefs.
With its mix of potent ideas and impeccable craft, it is a likely Oscar contender andĀ deserves the recognition and kudos, as it paints a fascinating picture of age old tensions at the heart of new technology.
Sony have done an excellent job with the Blu-ray and the audio and visual transfer is outstanding.
The extra features in the 2-disc special edition are extensive and provide a lot of insight into the filmmaking process.
Disc One
Disc Two
> Buy The Social Network on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK
>Ā Official site
>Ā The Social Network at the IMDb
>Ā Find out more about Facebook at Wikipedia
The King’s Speech was the big winner at the BAFTAs last night, winning Best Picture (twice!), acting awards for Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, Best Score and Best Original Screenplay.
Tom Hooper missed out on as Best Director, which went instead to David Fincher for The Social Network and Natalie Portman won Best Actress for Black Swan.
Here are the results in full:
BEST FILM
The King’s Speech
BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher – The Social Network
BEST ACTOR
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
BEST ACTRESS
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
The King’s Speech
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Four Lions – Chris Morris (Director/Writer)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Sweden
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Toy Story 3
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The King’s Speech – David Seidler
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
True Grit – Roger Deakins
BEST EDITING
The Social Network
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Inception
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Alice in Wonderland
BEST SOUND
Inception
BEST SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Inception
BEST MAKE UP AND HAIR
Alice in Wonderland
BEST SHORT ANIMATION
The Eagleman Stag
BEST SHORT FILM
Until The River Runs Red
RISING STAR AWARD (Voted for by the public)
Tom Hardy
> Full list of BAFTA nominations
> Awards season analysis at InContention
Black Swan is set to become the top domestic film in 2010 for parent studio 20th Century Fox.
It has currently made $97m in the US and already has a combined worldwide gross of $145m.
This is fairly staggering when you consider that Darren Aronofsky’s film is a product of their specialty division Fox Searchlight and not the major studio.
In addition the film was not an easy sell, as executives feel safer green-lighting sequels and remakes rather than psychological thrillers set in the world of ballet.
Fox struggled in 2010 with a series of underperforming films, only offset by the phenomenon of Avatar which grossed 408m in the US.
Its highest domestic grossers so far this year have been Date Night ($98 million) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ($102.7m) but Black Swan is almost certainly going to overtake both of them.
In addition the Christmas releases for the studio were the relative disappointments of Gulliver’s Travels ($181m gross on a budget of $112m) and Love and Other Drugs ($90m gross on a $30m budget).
Black Swan was made for a mere $13 million, with Cross Creek Pictures and Fox Searchlight splitting the costs after a previous round of financing fell apart. (To put the budgets into perspective, Black Swan cost just one eighth of what the Narnia sequel did).
After its world premiere at the Venice film festival, it played to acclaim and buzz on the festival circuit and a canny platform release in December has seen it rewarded with big audiences and five Oscar nominations.
But what accounts for the remarkable success of the film?
Speaking to Variety, Fox Searchlight president Nancy Utley says:
“I think the largest factor in the film’s success is originality. People love to go to the movies and see something they can’t put in a little box”.
One of the film’s producers Brian Oliver offers his take:
“I think the whole year of independent film in the best picture category is showing that you can make commercial artsy films at a budget that can perform at studio levels. I’m more surprised that it’s going to hit the $100 million domestic mark than by what it’s doing overseas.”
In retrospect, the early signs were promising.
When the official trailer launched on YouTube, it racked up 3m views in 48 hours and currently has nearly 12m.
According to surveys the film has been especially popular with young women under-25, an audience usually starved on bad romantic comedies starring Katherine Heigl or Kate Hudson.
But does the daring and trippy nature of the film suggest that studios will be willing to take chances on more unusual projects?
> Official site
> Black Swan LFF review
> Box Office Mojo data on Black Swan
Wall Street Journal film critic Joe Morgenstern has revealed that Lionel Logue helped cure Rupert Murdoch’s father of his stutter.
At the end of his most recent column, he writes about a recent conversation with his media mogul boss who asked him what he should see:
“With ‘The King’s Speech’ gaining the Oscar traction it deservesāthe latest boost being an expression of approval from Queen ElizabethāI can’t resist going public with a story that I’ve relished telling to friends, and to the people who made the movie. Several weeks before it opened, I had a conversation with Rupert Murdoch, who popped a question familiar to movie critics: What should he see?
I suggested “The King’s Speech,” and, not wanting to spoil it with too many details, gave a shorthand description: Colin Firth as King George VI, who has a terrible stutter, and Geoffrey Rush as a raffish Australian speech therapist.
Yes, he replied, Lionel Logue.
“So you know the story.”
Not the story of the movie, he said. “Lionel Logue saved my father’s life.”
When I responded with speechlessness, he explained that his father, as a young man, wanted passionately to be a newspaper reporter, but couldn’t interview people because he stuttered. Then he met Lionel Logue, who cured him in less than a year”
This is not the first time Keith Murdoch has been directly connected with a film.
After beginning his career in journalism with The Age in Melbourne he made a name for himself covering the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey, a military fiasco which was brought to the screen as Peter Weir’s Gallipoli (1981).
His son Rupert was by then a powerful newspaper owner and helped produce the film before going on to buy Twentieth Century Fox in 1985.
> Rupert Murdoch, Keith Murdoch and Lionel Logue at Wikipedia
> Gallipoli at IMDb
> Joe Morgenstern’s piece at the WSJ
> The King’s Speech LFF review
Click below for a livestream of the historic events in Egypt as protesters celebrate on the day Hosni Mubarak resigned as president.
> Film by Oliver Wilkins of the protests on February 1st 2011
> Find out more about the 2011 Egypt Protests at Wikipedia
> BBC News Q&A explaining the background to the protests
The Film School Thesis Generator is a fairly accurate spoof of the academic jargon used to describe the art of cinema.
Created by designer and writer Mike Lacher, it is worth typing in a few films to try it out.
The new Justin Bieber movie Never Say Never?
“Through the use of subversive semiotics, Never Say Never echoes the rise of currency and the loss of utopia”
What about the dire Stallone cop movie Cobra (1986)?
“Through the collapsing of identity and whiteness, Cobra hybridizes the rise of currency and the loss of utopia”
The Michael Winner clunker Bullseye! (1990)
“Through the fluid identification of the viewer, Bullseye asks telling questions of Bergman-esque assertions of the nature of humanity”
All time box office champ Avatar (2009)?
“Through the deliberate suppression of colors meant to signify passion, Avatar dichotomizes the primacy of scholarship in the Abrahamic religions.”
What about Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010)?
“Through the conflicting duality of progress and humanity, Inception asks telling questions of established notions of the star system”
And Citizen Kane (1941)?:
“The strategic use of narrative ellipses in Citizen Kane calls into question pre-Oedipal anxieties”
For more fun just head over to the site byĀ clicking here.
> IndieWire interview with creator Mike Lacher
> The Film School Thesis Generator
Oliver Wilkins shot some interesting footage of the historic uprisings in Egypt recently before government forces cracked down on anyone with a camera.
A British film maker based in Cairo for the past 12 years, he filmed some of the protests with a GoPro and the Canon 550D.
He says:
As a foreign guest living in Egypt I generally try to steer clear of Egyptian politics. However, what has been happening in Tahrir is totally unprecedented. Itās amazing to see people making signs from anything lying around them in an attempt to get their voices heard
If any news organisations are reading this you can contact him via his website here.
> Oliver Wilkins at Vimeo
> Find out more about the 2011 Egypt Protests at Wikipedia
NATIONAL RELEASES
True Grit (Paramount):Ā This beautifully crafted Western from the Coen Brothers is a much richer adaptation ofĀ the Charles Portis novel thanĀ the 1969 film version.Ā It begins in Arkansas during the 1870s with a young girl named Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) hiring grizzled US Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to track down her fatherās killer (Josh Brolin).
A Texas Ranger named Le Beouf (Matt Damon), who is also after Chaney, joins them as they head out intoĀ Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) and, despite their differences in age and temperament, gradually form a close bond.Ā Although regarded by some as a remake of the film thatĀ finally won John Wayne his first Oscar, this is actually more faithful to the original novel, preserving the point of view of Mattie and its distinctive depiction of the Wild West.
Both the town ofĀ Fort Smith and the rugged surrounding landscape are recreated with consummate skill: regular cinematographerĀ Roger Deakins shoots the terrain with a harsh beauty andĀ Jess Gonchorās production design helps create a detailed, but never romanticised, world.
Coming off positive reviews, Oscar nominations andĀ surprisingly strong box office in the US, it stands a good chance of doing decent business here, although UK audiences are notoriously resistant to the Western genre. But the sheer quality and the fact that The King’s Speech has peaked in popularity could be factors in discerning audiences going to see this.Ā [Vue West End & Nationwide / 15] [Read our full review]
Never Let Me Go (20th Century Fox): Adapted fromĀ Kazuo Ishiguroās novel this is an exquisitely crafted drama setĀ in an alternate timeline of England, where a young woman named Kathy (Carey Mulligan) looks back on her childhood when she grew up with two friends, Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield).Ā As youngsters they attend Hailsham, a boarding school sheltering them from the outside world, and as they grow older it slowly dawns on them that they have been excluded from mainstream society for a reason.
From the opening credits directorĀ Mark Romanek establishes a carefully controlled mood, and for the early section we see younger actors (Isobel Meikle-Small, Ella Purnell and Charlie Rowe) convincingly play the three leads as children in 1978.Ā Hints are dropped fairly early on about the mysterious nature of their youth, alongside a developing love triangle as Kathy realises Tommy, who she bonded with from an early age, is in love with Ruth.
The recreation of an ageing English boarding school is thoroughly convincing, with some first rate costume and production design, and the transition to their teenage years in the mid-1980s is fairly seamless.Ā Romanek handles the material with considerable skill and technically the film is exquisitely made: Adam Kimmelās widescreen cinematography and Barney Pillingās editing all help to create a rich mood of sadness and regret.
Although it seemed like an early contender for BAFTAs and Oscars, the early reactions on the festival circuit were mixed and it ended up dying a quick death at the US box office. Its UK release was timed for BAFTA nominations which never materialised. It will probably suffer the same fate here as the nature of the story will put some viewers off. Nevertheless, it is a film of considerable craft, emotion and intelligence that deserves to find a wider audience over time. [Curzon Mayfair, Vue West End & Nationwide / 12A] [Read our full review here]
Paul (Universal): A new comedy about two British comic geeks (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) who go on a road trip through America only to discover an alien named Paul (voiced byĀ Seth Rogen) who has escaped fromĀ Area 51. [Nationwide from Monday 14th /Ā 15]
Yogi Bear (Warner Bros.): A live-action film adaptation of theĀ Hanna-Barbera cartoon seriesĀ directed byĀ Eric Brevig and featuringĀ Dan Aykroyd as the voice ofĀ Yogi Bear, andĀ Justin Timberlake as the voice ofĀ Boo-Boo Bear.Ā [Vue West End & Nationwide / U]
Gnomeo & Juliet (Entertainment One UK): An animated animated family film based onĀ William Shakespeare‘s playĀ Romeo and Juliet,Ā directed byĀ Kelly Asbury and featuring the voices ofĀ James McAvoy andĀ Emily Blunt.Ā [Empire Leicester Square & Nationwide / U]
Just Go With It (Sony Pictures): A romantic comedy starringĀ Adam Sandler andĀ Jennifer Aniston based on the 1969 filmĀ Cactus Flower about a plastic surgeon who pretends to be unhappily married in order to get women.Ā [Nationwide / 12A]
ALSO OUT
Son Of Babylon (Dogwoof): AĀ Iraqi dramaĀ directed byĀ Mohamed Al-Daradji set in 2003 about aĀ 12-year-old boy and his grandmother who go on a cross-country journey to find a loved one. [Empire Leicester Square & Key Cities]
Nothing To Declare (Pathe): A comedy written and directed by Dany Boon set inĀ 1993, about two customs officers, one Belgian and the other French, who find out their small customs post is to be closed. [Showing exclusively at Cine Lumiere]
The Flying Machine (Break Thru Films): A a part animation part live action production, celebrating the life of Frederic Chopin.Ā [Royal Festival Hall / 12th & 13th Only]
Two In The Wave (New Wave Films): A documentary about Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut and their creative and personal differences. [BFI Southbank, ICA & Key Cities / ]
My Kidnapper (Renegade Pictures): Documentary about Mark Henderson, one of eight backpackers taken hostage in Colombia during 2003.Ā [Ritzy Picturehouse & selected Key Cities]
Tantric Tourists (Independent/Slack Alice Films): A documentary about a tantric guru and 10 US students who go to India in search of a life-changing tantric experience. [Opens on February 14th in Key Cities]
> Get local cinema showtimes atĀ Google Movies orĀ FindAnyFilm
>Ā UK DVD & Blu-ray releases for Monday 7th January 2011, including Once Upon A Time in America
The first trailer for the upcoming prequel X-Men First Class is here.
Set during the 1960s, it explores Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and the early days of their respective groups, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, it also stars Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, Lucas Till and will be released on June 3rd.
How did hotly anticipated Oscar contender Never Let Me Go fall out of the race and die a box office death?
This week sees the UK release of the highly accomplished adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed novel, which is about three children who grow up together and slowly realise their lives are not what they expected.
A prestige project financed by Film4, DNA Films and Fox Searchlight, it was only last summer that it seemed like a solid awards season candidate.
But whilst now the Oscar talk is all about The Kingās Speech and The Social Network, last summer things were different.
All the right ingredients were there: a talented director in Mark Romanek, a script by Alex Garland and a promising young cast featuring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley and Sally Hawkins.
When the first one sheet poster and trailer appeared around June, it looked like Fox Searchlightās formidable marketing machine was clicking into gear.
Films deemed worthy of Oscar are often premiered in late August and early September at festivals in Telluride and Toronto.
The buzz established there can be the fuel that sustains an awards campaign, as was the case in 2008 when Slumdog Millionaire began its all-conquering Oscar run at Telluride.
This year the big audience favourite was The Kingās Speech, which got people buzzing and pundits immediately declaring it as an Oscar front runner.
But what about Never Let Me Go?
That too screened at Telluride and Toronto and although some critics admired it, the general reaction was more muted.
There seemed to be an aversion to the actions of the main characters, especially in the final stages of the film, although to say anymore would be venturing into spoiler territory.
In one interview Garland said that some people āhatedā the film and Romanek even pointed people (via Twitter) to Ishiguroās defence of why the characters act the way they do.
This mixed buzz would have been alarming for the team at Fox Searchlight who had hoped this would be one of their major Oscar contenders. But worse was to come.
Most films like Never Let Me Go are given a platform release, which means that they open gradually in major cities, hoping to build on good reviews and positive word of mouth.
On its opening weekend in mid-September, it played at 4 cinemas in New York and Los Angeles, scoring an impressive $120,830, and Sheila DeLoach of Fox Searchlight seemed upbeat, saying to IndieWire:
āItās one of the top opening per screen averages of a limited film this year, and we feel weāll have good word of mouth.ā
But as the studio expanded the number of screens, audiences stayed away and it gradually died a box office death over the next few weeks, ultimately grossing just $2.4m in the US against a reported production budget of $15m.
In late October the LA Times published a post-mortem piece speculating as to why it didnāt catch fire citing:
It was around this time that I saw the film at the London Film Festival and remember being deeply impressed with the world created by Romanek and the performances (especially Mulligan) whilst also feeling that it was emotionally distant.
But something about it stayed with me and on a recent second viewing in anticipation for the UK release, it struck me that the film might be too effective for its own good.
The powerful, unnerving sadness baked into the story hit a profound chord as deeper themes slowly emerged.
On the surface the it deals with how precious time is, but you could also see it as a story about the way a society rationalises cruelty for the greater good.
The characters in the film could represent anyone in the unfortunate position of being deemed expendable in the eyes of the wider public, be they the homeless, the dispossessed or simple transgressors.
What really hit home on second viewing was a social resonance which Ishiguro probably didnāt intend when he wrote the novel but which the film eerily catches in the current era.
That is how the three central characters, as children and young adults, all seem represent the younger generation of today, one which will potentially pay a heavy price for the prolificacy and greed of the one that spawned them.
Two scenes drive this home: one where a teacher (Sally Hawkins) cryptically explains to her pupils what their life will be and another late on in the film where a key character quietly explains something truly devastating.
In short, you could read Never Let Me Go as a parable of the expendable or how one generation suffers for the sins of its parents.
The focus on the innocence and emotions of the central characters, gently suffocated by wider social forces, is what makes the film really affecting.
But perhaps the sci-fi framework, revealed at the beginning, along with the muted colour palette put some people off from engaging with the film.
It is largely a moot point whether or not the characters ‘accept’ their lives, because the film is – in part- about that very notion of acceptance and how people are conditioned for various reasons to accept their lot.
This is the melancholy truth at the heart of story, which makes it work artistically but not financially in the current era of austerity and gloom when audiences aren’t really up for sadness at the multiplex.
In addition the performances help keep us interested in the strange lives of Kathy, Tommy and Ruth: whilst Knightley and Garfield are good, it is Carey Mulliganās performance as Kathy which is the emotional lynchpin of the film.
She deserved all the plaudits for her breakout role in An Education, but here she surpasses it with a performance of great emotional range.
Whilst enduring the slow-burning torment of having her one true love stolen by her best friend, she reacts to this (and worse!) by becoming a thoroughly decent and compassionate person.
This is heartbreaking to watch and Mulligan doesnāt hit a false note, especially in the key final act.
Mark Romanek also brings his considerable technical skills to the table and with the help of his DP Adam Kimmell captures the English locations with a piercing eye for detail and the haunting beauty of the landscape.
Although he has only directed two features before this ā the little seen Static (1985) and One Hour Photo (2002) ā he puts things together with the assurance of an accomplished veteran director.
In the build up to awards like the BAFTAs and Oscars it is easy to forget films that have fallen out of the media spotlight, as but fallen contenders like Never Let Me Go are still worth a look, even if its beautifully designed one-sheet poster has been replaced with a dumbed down UK quad.
It wonāt win any major awards and will leave some audiences cold, but I have a feeling that it will find a more appreciative audience over time, as its sad insights are reflected in the wider world.
Never Let Me Go opens in the UK on Friday 11th February
> Official UK site
> Reviews of Never Let Me Go atĀ Metacritic andĀ MUBi
> Find out more aboutĀ Mark Romanek andĀ Kazuo Ishiguro at Wikipedia
> Mark Romanek on Twitter (He recently admitted the US cover art for the Blu-ray and DVD was lame)
Director Sally Potter is holding an open casting call for her latest film via the web.
Her production company Adventure Pictures is looking for two teenage girls, aged 14 to 18, for the leading roles in her upcoming period film set in London during the 1960s.
They want aspiring actors to upload a video audition via YouTube before selecting the best ones to come to London to audition in person (you donāt necessarily have to be studying drama or have any prior acting experience).
Potter has previously worked with Johnny Depp, Tilda Swinton, Judi Dench and Jude Law and her previous films include Orlando (1992), The Man Who Cried (2000), Yes (2004) and Rage (2009).
To find out more about the film and submitting your audition video just visit www.sallypotter.com/casting
> Casting Page on Facebook
> Sally Potter’s official site
> Sally Potter at the IMDb
Kevin Spacey is a master of impressions but it turns out Peter Serafinowicz does a pretty good impersonation of the US actor.
In this acting masterclass it seems like he’s doing a version of Spacey’s character from Swimming with Sharks (1996).
> Peter Serafinowicz at Wikipedia
> Kevin Spacey impersonations on Inside The Actor’s Studio
The first image of Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher from the forthcoming biopic The Iron Lady has been released.
Streep is currently in London filming and it sees her reteam with director Phyllida Lloyd for the first time since Mamma Mia (2008).
The actress has said:
“I am trying to approach the role with as much zeal, fervour and attention to detail as the real Lady Thatcher possesses – I can only hope my stamina will begin to approach her ownā
Written by playwright Abi Morgan, the film reportedly explores her political life through flashbacks, opening with the octagenarian Lady Thatcher reflecting on her 11 years as Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990.
Amongst the events likely to be explored include the Falklands War and the Brighton bombing, along with her later years after being ousted by her own party in 1990.
Some reports have suggested that the film portrays Thatcher as an elderly dementia-sufferer looking back on her career with sadness and regret,Ā fuelingĀ speculation inĀ conservative newspapers that it will be a less-than-flattering look at the former Tory leader.
But Cameron McCracken, managing director of PathƩ, has said that it will look at both the highs and lows of her career:
“It is true that the film is set in the recent past and that Baroness Thatcher does look back on both the triumphs and the lows of her extraordinary career. It is a film about power and the price that is paid for power. In that sense, it is the story of every person who has ever had to balance their private life with their public career.”
Jim Broadbent is playing Thatcherās husband Dennis, whilst their young selves are played by Alexandra Roach and Harry Lloyd.
The rest of the cast includes Anthony Head as Geoffrey Howe, Richard E Grant as Michael Hesletine, Roger Allam as Gordon Reece and Olivia Colman as her daughter Carol.
The Iron Lady is a co-procution of PathƩ, Film4, UK Film Council, Canal+ and Cine Cinema in associaton with Goldcrest Film and DJ Films.
Fox will release the film in the UK and footage will be screened at Cannes, where Pathe will be handling international sales.
It doesn’t have an official release date confirmed, but is scheduled to come out later this year.
> The offical blog for The Iron Lady
> IMDb entry for The Iron Lady
> Find out more about Margaret Thatcher at Wikipedia
UK listings magazine Time Out have selected a list of The 100 Best British Films, topped by Don’t Look Now (1973).
Voted for by 150 film experts including critics, filmmakers, actors and ‘industry players‘, itĀ is a very solid selection overall, with the top ten featuring a healthy mix of established greats alongside some interesting choices.
However, if we are talking about British films (that is films produced by British companies) the team that put this together have made a major blunder by including Stanley Kubrick films which were American films that just happened to be shot in the UK.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) was produced by MGM, whilst A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Barry Lyndon (1975) were funded by Warner Bros – both large US studios.
Brazil (1985) was also US financed (by Embassy International Pictures, whilst Universal released it) and Nil By Mouth (1997) – whilst seemingly very British – was actually co-financed with French money.
This might seem like nitpicking but it is worth highlighting where the money comes from, especially in the current era where it prospects look fairly bleak for homegrown UK production.
However, there are plenty of films here to feast on and a few personal favourites I’d highly recommend are:Ā If… (1968), Performance (1970), The Offence (1971), Witchfinder General (1968), Local Hero (1983) and Hunger (2008).
You can also check out the individual lists of each Time Out contributor here.
THE TIME OUT LIST OF THE 100 BEST BRITISH FILMS
A new video has surfaced, appearing to be some kind of viral spoof of the Banksy documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop.
After the raves at Sundance,Ā widespread critical acclaim and a truly maverick indie release, the debut film of renegade street artist Banksy recently got nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar.
The big question was whether or not the reclusive man himself would turn up at the ceremony on February 27th, so when a mysterious Oscar-themed mural appeared in Los Angeles, it seemed his own renegade Oscar campaign had begin.
Now, there is this bizarre spoof trailer titled ‘Exit Through The Pet Shop‘ which plays on the internet meme of a keyboard-playing cat:
There is also a livestream of a gallery which appears to be littered with Keyboard cat art in the style of Mr Brainwash:
For those unfamiliar with the film (and if you haven’t seen it, you really should), it features a filmmaker named Thierry Guetta who documents Banksy and then later becomes an artist himself, using the moniker of Mr. Brainwash.
This new cat-themed site purports to be that of a performance artist and ‘professional nose dancer’ Charlie Schmidt, the originator of the Keyboard Cat meme from a couple of years ago.
But it looks to me like this is the work of Banksy and his cohorts as they mount what is the most unusual campaign in Oscar history.
> The recent Banksy Oscar mural
> The history of the Keyboard Cat meme
>Ā Buy Exit Through The Gift Shop on Blu-ray orĀ DVD
> Official site for the film
Video sharing site Vimeo and Canon recently held a user-generated contest called The Story Beyond The Still with the aim of helping photographers becoming filmmakers.
The project was crowd-sourced as several shorts, or chapters, and then combined into this 38-minute final version, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival a couple of weeks ago:
The Story Beyond the Still – All Chapters – FINAL COLLABORATIVE FILM from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.
> Beyond The Still at Vimeo
> Vimeo blog post about the competition
DVD & BLU-RAY PICK
Once Upon A Time America (Warner Home Video): Sergio Leone’s crime epic is one of the genuinely great films of the 1980s. Adapted from the novel ‘The Hoods’ by Harry Grey, it charts the lives of two Jewish gangsters over a 40 year period, David “Noodles” Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and Maximilian “Max” Bercovicz (James Woods), as well as the various people who surround them.
Originally released in 1984 a heavily butchered and linear version, it was later restored to its current running time of nearly 4 hours with the original flashback structure. Violent, elegiac and masterfully crafted, the sprawling narrative shifts between the 1920s, 1930s and the late 1960s as it charts the shifting actions, emotions and memories of its central characters.
DeNiro and Woods are excellent in the lead roles and look out for Leone’s clever audio and visual cues throughout as well as Ennio Morricone’s haunting score. The violent energy of the gangster’s early years is also neatly contrasted with the wistful tone of their later period.
Although this is about the best version of the film available, some have already noted that transfer is ‘imperfect’ which is possibly a problem with the original materials.
That being said, it is still well worth getting, especially as it fits on to one disc – unlike the 2003 DVD which was spread over 2 – and the extra features are good, including the following:
> Buy Once Upon A Time in America on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK
> Find out more about the film at Wikipedia, theĀ IMDb and this dedicated site
ALSO OUT
Bambi (Walt Disney) [Blu-ray / with DVD – Double Play]
Big Momma’s House (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Big Momma’s House 2 (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Brief Encounter (ITV DVD) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / with Digital Copy – Double Play]
Eat Pray Love (Sony Pictures Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]
I Spit On Your Grave (Anchor Bay/Elevation) [Blu-ray / Normal]
National Geographic: Great Migrations (National Geographic) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Red and White (Kaleidoscope Home Ent.) Blu-ray / Normal
Takers (Sony Pictures Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Rebound (Momentum Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
True Grit (1969 Version) (Paramount Home Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal]
> UK cinema releases for Friday 4th February 2011, including The Fighter and Rabbit Hole
> The Best DVD & Blu-ray releases of 2010
A neat side-by-side comparison of the films that influenced Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill (2003-04).
Everything Is A Remix: KILL BILL from robgwilson.com on Vimeo.
> Kill Bill at Wikipedia
> Rob G Wilson at Vimeo
The opera Lucrezia Borgia will be broadcast live and in 3D to select digital cinemas later this month.
The opera by Gaetano Donizetti based on Victor Hugo‘s play, will be performed by the ENO and is directed by Mike Figgis.
Lucrezia Borgia follows the complex relationship between a mother and her illegitimate son, exploring the brutal nature of Machiavellian politics and the struggle for power.
Paul Daniel conducts a cast including Claire Rutter as Lucrezia Borgia, Elizabeth DeShong as Maffio Orsini, Michael Fabiano as Gennaro and British bass Alastair Miles in the role of Alfonso dāEste.
In a world first it will be brought live and in g3D to digital cinemas nationwide including Odeon, Vue, Apollo and Ormonde on Wednesday 23rd February at 7.30pm.
Mike Figgis is best-known for films such as Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and is making his operatic debut with this new production, which is in partnership with ENO, Sky 3D, Sky Arts and More2Screen.
> Find out more at the ENO
> More on Lucrezia Borgia at Wikipedia
> Mike Figgis at the IMDb
NATIONAL RELEASES
The Fighter (Paramount/Momentum): The real life story of boxer āIrishā Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his half-brother and trainer Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale) is brought to the screen with formidable skill and energy by director David OāRussell.Ā The story of two very different fighters from Lowell, Massachusetts, it explores the wider tensions within their large Irish family, which include his tough mother-manager (Melissa Leo), father (Jack McGee), several sisters and Mickyās girlfriend (Amy Adams).
Although the framework of the film is familiar, the performances are electric: Bale is astonishing as the crack-addicted trainer, Wahlberg nicely underplays the lead role and Leo chews up her scenes as the controlling matriarch.Ā Working from a screenplay by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson, director David OāRussell uses his considerable skills to transcend the limitations of the conventional boxing movie.
Part of this involves some brilliant camerawork from Hoyte Van Hoytema, which makes great use of handheld and Steadicam, drawing us in to the world of the characters and infusing the film a restless, raw energy.Ā Another clever element is the visual look of the boxing sequences, shot on video to duplicate the TV look of HBO pay-per-view fights in the 1990s, with ringside reactions, instant-replays and image pixelation.
Like his best films, OāRussell seems to inspire technical excellence across the board: the acting, cinematography, Pamela Martinās editing, and the convincing period detail are all stellar and they combine to create a convincing portrait of the boxing world. [Read our full review] [Odeon Leicester Square & Nationwide / 15]
Brighton Rock (Optimum Releasing): Graham Greeneās classic crime novel has been updated to the 1960s, during the Mods and Rockers era, with budding gangster Pinkie Brown (Sam Riley) in charge of a protection mob challenging the status quo of Colleoni (Andy Serkis).Ā When a chance sequence of events leads to an incriminating photograph being taken, Pinkie seduces the innocent Rose (Andrea Riseborough) in order to avert arrest.
Directed by Rowan Joffe and co-starring Helen Mirren and John Hurt, the film got a decidedly mixed reception at the London Film Festival (where it screened in the surprise film slot) although other reviews have been more positive. It will need very good word of mouth to make an impact in the current box office climate. [Curzon Soho, Hampstead Everyman & Nationwide / 15]
Rabbit Hole (Metrodome Distribution): Adapted for the screen by David Lindsay-Abaire from his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play, this drama explores the grief of a married couple (Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) who struggle to cope with the aftermath following the loss of their young child. Although a lot of potential viewers (especially parents of young children) will find the subject matter radioactive, this is a powerful and absorbing film filled with fine performances.Ā
The two leads are superb as they depict complex emotions of loss and love, whilst in the supporting cast Miles Teller is terrific as the teenager Kidmanās character strikes up a friendship with. Director John Cameron-Mitchell has crafted a moving film, the kind that is rarely seen in modern Hollywood, and although the subject matter has meant less-than-stellar US box office, it is well worth seeking out. [The Renoir, Electric Cinema, Clapham Picture House, Everyman Belsize Park & Key Cities / 12A]
Sanctum (Universal): Presented as āJames Cameronās Sanctumā this tale of underwater explorers who get trapped in underground caves combines his passions for deep sea exploration and 3D.Ā However, Cameron is only an executive producer on the film which is directed by Alister Grierson and stars Richard Roxburgh as a diver who wants to be the first to explore the Esa-ala cave system in the South Pacific, only for things to go horribly wrong.
Co-starring Rhys Wakefield and Ioan Gruffudd, the posters and publicity will probably have fooled many suspecting viewers in to thinking it is the new 3D film from Cameron, which could be a disappointment for some. [Vue West End & Nationwide / 15]
ALSO OUT
The Clink Of Ice (Wild Bunch): French black comedy written and directed by Bertrand Blierabout an alcoholic writer (Jean Dujardin) who is confronted by an incarnation of his own cancer (Albert Dupontel). [Cine Lumiere]
A Little Bit Of Heaven (Entertainment Film Distributors): A romantic comedy directed by Nicole Kassell about a woman (Kate Hudson) with cancer who meets her soulmate (Gael GarcĆa Bernal). [Odeon West End & Nationwide / 12A]
Nenette (Artificial Eye): Documentary by Nicolas Philibert (best known for Ćtre et Avoir) about an orang-utan who is the oldest inhabitant at the oldest zoo in the world, in Paris. [Curzon Renoir / PG]
New York I Love You (The Works): A belated release for this collective work of eleven short films, with each segment running around 10 minutes long. The various segments star Natalie Portman, Shia LaBeouf, Hayden Christensen, Orlando Bloom, Irrfan Khan, James Caan and Christina Ricci with each shooting their part in one of New York’s five boroughs. [Curzon Mayfair & Key Cities / 15]
Silken Skin (bfi Distributors): A re-release for Francois Truffautās Hitchcockian tale of adultery which the director described as āa violent answer to Jules Et Jimā, his previous film about a love triangle. [BFI Southbank & Key Cities / PG]
> Get local cinema showtimes atĀ Google Movies orĀ FindAnyFilm
>Ā UK DVD & Blu-ray releases for Monday 31st January 2011, including Winter’s Bone and The Town
Actress Maria Schneider has died in Paris at the age of 58 after a long illness.
She was a teenage model when Bernardo Bertolucci cast her alongside Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris (1972), a film which broke sexual taboos and became an international sensation.
Although she later starred alongside Jack Nicholson in Michelangelo Antonioni’s The Passenger (1975), it was her debut role which sadly came to define her career.
Depicting the relationship between a young Parisian woman and a depressed American hotel manager, it swifty became notorious for its explicit sex scenes.
Schneider later claimed that one infamous scene left her feeling exploited:
“I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci. After the scene, Marlon didn’t console me or apologise. Thankfully, there was just one take.”
Bertolucci later said in 2003 that there was a misunderstanding:
“It is true that Maria was very young when we shot the film and maybe she couldn’t articulate what happened. So what remains is a confused moment where I am the killer or the bad guy.”
The worldwide attention from the film, was followed by numerous personal problems, although her last role of note was in Jane Eyre (1996).
In recent years helped run an organisation dedicated to supporting ageing actors and performers who find work drying up.
She lamented the ways actresses over a certain age are treated in a 2007 interview:
“It is not so easy for actresses over 50, and the irony is that when a woman gets old enough to have something interesting to say, people don’t want to hear her speak.”
> Maria Schneider at Wikipedia
> 1975 interview with Roger Ebert
> Various links at MUBi
How would The Godfather worked out if Robert De Niro played Sonny Corleone and James Caan played Michael?
These screen tests give an interesting glimpse of what might have been.
Here is De Niro as Sonny:
As for the critical role of Michael Corleone, this video shows Al Pacino, James Caan and Martin Sheen auditioning for the part alongside Diane Keaton:
The tests were edited by Marcia Lucas (wife of George) who went on to edit Star Wars (1977).
> The Godfather at Wikipedia
> Details on The Godfather Blu-ray release
Using archive clips and inventive graphics this video essay by Kirby Ferguson shows how different movies influence one another.
There is a particular focus on Avatar (2009), Star Wars (1977) and Kill Bill (2003/04).
Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.
By the way, notice the use of Clementine’s Loop at the beginning, a piece of music by Jon Brion which pops up in the first three films by Paul Thomas Anderson.
> Kirby Ferguson at Vimeo
> Everything is a Remix Part 1
Tindersticks have announced the release of their collection of film scores for director Claire Denis.
Titled Claire Denis Film Scores 1995ā2010, the boxed set includes the six soundtracks the band have done for the French filmmaker over the last fifteen years.
Ranging from Nenette et Boni (1996) to the recently acclaimed White Material (2009), it also includes 35 Shots of Rum (2008), Trouble Every Day (2001) and two solo soundtracks: Stuart Staplesā score for The Intruder (2004) and Dickon Hinchliffeās score for the sensual Vendredi Soir (2002).
To accompany the release, the band will be performing a series of concerts in cinematic seetings, bringing together the music with the evocative images that inspired it.
After performing at the San Francisco Film Festival in May 2011, the project has gathered interest and momentum and further performances are being scheduled across Europe in 2011.
The first of these to be announced is at Londonās Queen Elizabeth Hall on 26th April (19:30) in conjunction with the British Film Institute, with a special screening of Nenette et Boni at the BFI Southbank on the 27th April (18:30, NFT1), followed by an onstage Q&A with Claire Denis and lead singer Stuart Staples, discussing their work together and artistic affinity.
* UPDATE 29/03/11: You can now listen to some of the tracks on Soundcloud.
TINDERSTICKS – Claire Denis Film Scores BOX SET PREVIEW by Constellation Records
Staples has said in a statement:
āSometime in Paris ā95, I thought it was La Cigalle, she says it was the Bataclan, Iām not sure. That is where we met anyway, one of those places, after a concert. She was writing the screenplay for Nenette et Boni and something in our song āMy Sisterā had clicked with her, she asked us if we would like to make the music for the film. We had film scoring pretensions, soundtrack music had always been a thing of Davidās from when we met way back (though we could barely play, we had dreams).
It seemed the right next move for us, it fitted with the energy and flow of our band. We had this thing about Miles Davisā Lift to the Scaffold. Passing through Paris he stopped off at the studio with his band and recorded the score right there and then, in a day, watching the film for the first time and reacting musically. Seemed like a good place to start. I suppose the essence was there, thatās how we began, and after a few fumbling months we delivered the music for Nenette et Boni, nervously. Thatās how it all started, maybe we just got on, had some kind of understanding; we have never really talked about it. I was told she said in an interview that we understand her films before she does; maybe thatās true in some way, but I think she was just being gracious.
Approaching each film has always asked us to step into an unknown, stretch ourselves and do things we did not think we were able. At the end we always feel changed in some way. This has fed into all our other music and is a contributing factor to why weāre still struggling to catch our ideas after all these years, still frustrated and fascinated in equal measure. Other people have asked us to score their films, but we always reached a point where we realised that the freedom and conversation Claire affords (and expects from) us is not there, and then it becomes something different, making music for a purpose (money?) ā something weāre well aware we have never been very good at.ā
The soundtracks will be available for the first time together on CD, vinyl and download on Constellation Records and are released worldwide on April 26th 2011.
> Tindersticks
> More details on the London gigs in April
> Claire Denis at Wikipedia
February 2nd is Groundhog Day, a bizarre holiday made famous by a classic 1993 comedy starring Bill Murray.
The tradition has its roots in Christian and Roman times when early FebruaryĀ became associated with weather prediction, possibly due to it being close to the pagan festival of Imbolc just a day earlier.
For some reason it was believed that hedgehogs were accurate forecasters of weather and whenĀ German immigrants to the United States settled in Pennsylvania, theĀ lack of hedgehogs meant that they substituted them with the native groundhog.
‘Groundhog Day’ was born.
TheĀ largest celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, which became the setting for the 1993 comedy starring Bill Murray as Phil Connors, a TV reporter who covers the event, only to find he is living the same day, over and over again.
Directed by Harold Ramis, part of what makes the film special is that it remains unusually inventive for a mainstream studio comedy.
I uses a clever and accessible premise to make shrewd points about human nature, without resorting to cheap sentimentality.
The protagonist is self-centred and takes his colleagues for granted which means there is a satisfying sense of comedic justice when he finds himself trapped inside the endlessly repeating day of February 2nd, 1992.
It is when this cycle begins that the script, co-written by Ramis and Danny Rubin, really shows its stripes, finding ever more inventive ways to explore the deja vu nightmare of its central character.
The increasing torture for Phil, is hilarity for the audience, as the little details repeat and build on one another: the Sonny and Cher song, the annoying man in the street, the waitress and crucially his encounters with his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell).
There is also the central dramatic irony as only we and Phil know that he is experiencing the same day over and over again and literally living life like there is no tomorrow.
Most comedies have some kind of cheesy self-improvement theme built into them, but the reason Groundhog Day is different lies in the power of the central idea: the more we experience the same routine, the greater our insight into others and ultimately ourselves.
There is also something film-like in the way Murray’s character is essentially doing endless ‘re-takes’ of the same day.
It was well received by audiences and critics when it was initially released in February 1993, going on to become the 13th highest grossing film of that year.
But it gradually became a firm favourite on home video: an appropriate fate for a film about repetition, which gets better through repeated viewings.
Perhaps the most lasting legacy of the film is that the title has itself become a phrase in the English language to denote a bad situation that repeats itself.
In the US military, the phrase soon caught on with troops in Somalia during September 1993 (events later depicted in Black Hawk Down), President Bill Clinton referenced the film in a January 1996 speech about military operations in Bosnia and during the recent Iraq conflict the phrase was even military slang for a single day spent serving in Iraq.
The parable-like qualities of the film have seen it embraced by religious viewers including Buddhists, who see the themes of selflessness and rebirth, and Catholics, who see February 2nd as representing Purgatory.
In 2005 Roger Ebert placed it his “Great Movies” series, upgrading his original three-star review by saying:
“Groundhog Day” is a film that finds its note and purpose so precisely that its genius may not be immediately noticeable. It unfolds so inevitably, is so entertaining, so apparently effortless, that you have to stand back and slap yourself before you see how good it really is.
Certainly I underrated it in my original review; I enjoyed it so easily that I was seduced into cheerful moderation. But there are a few films, and this is one of them, that burrow into our memories and become reference points. When you find yourself needing the phrase ‘This is like Groundhog Day’ to explain how you feel, a movie has accomplished something”
Although it didn’t receive any serious awards recognition at the time, it has since appeared on many retrospective polls of great comedy films and the Writers Guild of America even ranked the screenplay as 27th on their list of the 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written.
This year the movie channel Encore even showed the film on a loop for 24 hours, a fitting tribute for a film that gets better the more you see it.
> Groundhog Day at the IMDb
> Reviews of the film at Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic
> 12 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Groundhog Day
> Buy it on DVD or Blu-ray from Amazon UK
This making of film about Deliverance (1972) is an interesting snapshot of how films used to be promoted.
Lasting ten minutes, it blends a voiceover, B-roll footage and audio interviews with director John Boorman and author James Dickey, who has a cameo in the film as the sheriff.
One startling nugget of information revealed is that the film wasn’t insured.
> Buy Deliverance on DVD from Amazon UK
> More on Deliverance, John Boorman and James Dickey at Wikipedia
A recent Banksy mural in L.A. suggests that the Oscar campaign for Exit Through The Gift Shop has begun.
After being nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar last week, Banksy issued the following statement:
āThis is a big surprise. I donāt agree with the concept of award ceremonies, but Iām prepared to make an exception for the ones Iām nominated for. The last time there was a naked man covered in gold paint in my house, it was me.ā
It seemed only a matter of time before some relevant street art appeared, but unlike the major studios it seems the people behind the low-budget film are relying on a more grass roots approach.
> Exit Through the Gift Shop
> Banksy at Wikipedia
Last April Werner Herzog sat down for a 2 hour chat with author and essayist, Pico Iyer at UC Santa Barbara.
It is a wideranging discussion and as you might expect is filled with lots of classic Herzogian anecdotes.
> Roger Ebert Time profile on Herzog
> Werner Herzog at Wikipedia
Paramount have released this video detailing the cinematography of Roger Deakins in True Grit.
A longtime collaborator of The Coen Brothers, Deakins has shot films including Barton Fink (1991), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Fargo (1996), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) and No Country for Old Men (2007).
He also acted as a visual consultant for WALL-E (2008) and How to Train Your Dragon (2010).
UPDATE: David Poland has posted this lengthy interview with Deakins over at MCN
> Official site for Roger Deakins (includes an active forum where Roger frequently posts)
> IMDb entry
Composer John Barry has died in New York of a heart attack aged 77.
One of the best-known composers of soundtrack music since the 1960s, he worked on several James Bond films, Born Free (1966), The Lion in Winter (1968), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Out of Africa (1985) and Dances With Wolves (1990).
The winner of five Academy Awards, he also received a BAFTA fellowship award in 2005.
For the Bond franchise, it was his arrangement of Monty Norman’s iconic theme that led to him working on the scores for 11 films in the series, including Goldfinger (1964) and You Only Live Twice (1968).
Part of his signature style was the use of strings, orchestral swells and distinctive melodies.
He also wrote for television and among his most notable work in the medium included themes for Juke Box Jury and The Persuaders.
Barry, who lived in Long Island, is survived by his wife Laurie and four children and five grandchildren.
> John Barry at Wikipedia
> More links on John Barry at MUBi
> BBC News audio slideshow of John Barry’s music
> 1995 BBC programme on the Bond themes
Fox Searchlight have released a video showing how many of the visual effects in Black Swan were achieved.
Darren Aronofsky’s dark ballerina drama might not seem like a conventional visual effects movie, but when you see this video you’ll realise why they were central to the film.
* WARNING: There are major spoilers in this video, so don’t watch if you haven’t seen the film *
> Our Black Swan review
> The Sound of Black Swan
> Official website
DVD & BLU-RAY PICKS
Winter’s Bone (Artificial Eye): An acclaimed US indie drama set in the Ozarks (the rural area covering Arkansas and Missouri) about a young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) determined to find out what happened to her missing father whilst struggling to support her family.
Co-written and directed by Debra Granik, it was one of the genuine indie breakout hits of the past year and manages to skilfully combine the tropes of a serious drama within the framework of a thriller.
> Read our full review of Winter’s Bone
> Buy Winter’s Bone on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK
The Town (Warner Home Video): Crime drama set in Boston about a bank robber (Ben Affleck) who falls in love with a woman (Rebecca Hall) his gang have kidnapped. Affleck also directs and the film features Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm in supporting roles.
Ben Affleckās second film as director is a satisfyingly lean crime drama, with solid performances across the board and excellent contributions from cinematographer Robert Elswit and editor Dylan Tichenor.
> Read our full review of The Town
> Buy The Town on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon UK
ALSO OUT
22 Bullets (Anchor Bay Entertainment UK) [Blu-ray / Normal] 31/01/2011
Amer (Anchor Bay Entertainment UK) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Going the Distance (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Legend of the Fist – The Return of Chen Zhen (Metrodome Distribution) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Mr Nice (Entertainment One) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Nuclear Blast Clips: Volume 1 (Nuclear Blast) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Color Purple (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray with Digital Copy]
> UK cinema releases for Friday 28th January 2011, including Hereafter, Tangled and Biutiful
> The Best DVD & Blu-ray releases of 2010
British actor Henry Cavill has been cast as Clark Kent / Superman in the upcoming film Superman: Man of Steel.
The 2012 film will be directed by Zack Snyder, who has said:
āIn the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time, and I am honored to be a part of his return to the big screen. I also join Warner Bros., Legendary and the producers in saying how excited we are about the casting of Henry. He is the perfect choice to don the cape and S shield.ā
It will be produced by Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder, with a screenplay by David S. Goyer based on a story by Goyer and Nolan.
But the big question on many people’s lips right now is: ‘who is Henry Cavill’?
Born in 1983, he is a British actor who has appeared in supporting roles in films such as The Count of Monte Cristo (2002), I Capture the Castle (2003), Tristan and Isolde (2006) and Stardust (2007).
Here he is as Albert Modego in The Count of Monte Cristo:
However, it was the role of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, in the Showtime series The Tudors (2007-10) which got him serious attention.
Previously he was considered for what eventually became Superman Returns (2004) but Bryan Singer replaced McG as director and cast Brandon Routh as the lead instead.
In 2005, he was also up for the role of James Bond in Casino Royale (2006), even performing a screentest, but the producers decided he was too young for the part, which they gave to Daniel Craig.
Because of these setbacks, December 2005 Empire him dubbed “the most unlucky man in Hollywood”.
Aside from the trend of casting relative unknowns in the role (Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh), it also bears the hallmarks of Batman Begins (2005) as Warner Bros and the same producers have gone with a younger British actor.
Superman: Man of Steel is scheduled for release in December 2012.
> Deadline report on the casting of Henry Cavill
> Henry Cavill at the IMDb
> More on Superman: Man of Steel at Wikipedia
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Saturday Night Live last night with Jesse Eisenberg and Andy Samberg.
Eisenberg played the tech billionaire in The Social Network and Samberg regularly plays him on the weekly TV show.
Here it is, in case you missed it:
If SNL get the clip pulled, you can watch it here.
> Mark Zuckerberg at Wikipedia
> My review of The Social Network
> Saturday Night Live at Wikipedia
Here are all the winners at this year’s Sundance film festival, which included Like Crazy and How to Die in Oregon.
Keep an eye out for some of these films over the next year.
JURY PRIZES
AUDIENCE AWARDS
DIRECTING & SCREENWRITING
EDITING & CINEMATOGRAPHY
SPECIAL JURY PRIZES
HONOURABLE MENTIONS IN SHORT FILMMAKING
INAUGURAL SUNDANCE INSTITUTE/MAHINDRA GLOBAL FILMMAKING AWARD
OTHER
> Sundance Film Festival
> Previous Sundance winners 1985-2010
Tom Hooper was the surprise winner of the DGA award last night for The King’s Speech.
Although David Fincher was favoured by many Oscar pundits after The Social Network dominated the season so far, Hooper won the union’s prize for outstanding achievement in feature film at last night’s ceremony in Hollywood.
The nominees were David Fincher (The Social Network), Christopher Nolan (Inception), Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) and David O. Russell (The Fighter), a line-up which was mirrored in the Oscar nominations, aside from Nolan who missed out there as the Coen Brothers (True Girt) were favoured by the Academy.
The DGA is a key award as only six times in 62 years has the winner not gone on to claim Best Director at the Oscars, with the most recent exception being 2003, when DGA winner Rob Marshall (Chicago) lost out to Roman Polanski (The Pianist).
With a just a month until the Oscars on February 27th, some are now predicting that The King’s Speech is now the favourite to beat The Social Network.
After the film about King George and his speech therapist won at the Producers Guild of America last weekend, it looked like the tide could be turning against Fincher’s film which had dominated the awards season so far.
But it looks like The King’s Speech will now be entering the final stretch as the favourite, although why does a gut feeling tell me that it’s not totally over for The Social Network?
> DGA awards
> Awards season analysis at In Contention, Awards Daily and Hollywood Elsewhere
One of the genuine indie breakout hits of the past year, Debra Granik’s compelling drama provided a star-making role for Jennifer Lawrence and was a reminder that darker, intelligent films outside of the studio system can make an impact.
Set in the Ozarks and adapted from Daniel Woodrel’s novel, it is the story of 17 year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), who has to find her missing father after he has used the family house as a way of securing his bail.
Faced with losing her home, Ree challenges the local community for answers and gradually uncovers a web of deceit in an area blighted by crime, drugs and poverty.
Shot with a keen eye for detail, writer-director Granik managed to skilfully combine the tropes of a serious drama within the framework of a thriller, as the central character gradually uncovers the mystery surrounding her missing father.
Along the way we see all manner of shifty characters, ranging from relatives (John Hawkes), friends (Sheryl Lee) and witch-like locals (Dale Dickey) who might hold the key to finding Ree’s father.
In addition it is also a powerful study in courage, as the female protagonist not only has to provide for her family but also venture into the a darker world run of local crime, which largely revolves around the buying and selling of crystal meth.
In a remarkably mature performance, Jennifer Lawrence conveys just the right amounts of determination, anger and intelligence, without ever resorting toĀ clichĆ©.
It has been accurately described as a star making turn, but the fact that there are precious few roles like this for any actresses, even in more high-profile films, is still a depressing sign of the times.
However, the supporting cast is also excellent with John Hawkes especially good as the ambiguous uncle who may or may not be an ally, and the blend of non-actors with the main cast is faultless, but never showy.
Granik immersed herself in the area and shot much of the film in the houses of local residents, many of whom appear in the film, and there is a harsh authenticity to the film which is startling, even for an independent film like this.
The wintry landscape of the Ozarks is superbly evoked and the rich atmosphere is enhanced by the use of local songs and music, some of which are performed on camera by locals.
It deservedly reaped a lot of acclaim at Sundance 2010, where it won the Grand Jury Prize as well as the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for Granik and her co-writer Anne Rosellini.
Despite the grim rural setting and the unflinching depiction of the crystal meth problem in the rural South, distributorĀ Roadside Attractions helped it become one of the major indie success stories of the year, as it grossed over $7m worldwide and landed 4 Oscar nominations.
All the success must have been gratifying for Granik after her previous film, the addiction drama Down to the Bone (2004), struggled to get distributed due to its downbeat subject matter.
The DVD & Blu-ray release comes of the back of last week’s Oscar nominations, which should provide a good word-of-mouth boost and the chance for discerning audiences to catch the film.
Shot digitally on the Red One camera, the film looks especially good on Blu-ray with its cold and semi-monochromatic look.
The UK disc unfortunately omits the director’s commentary, but features the following extras:
Winter’s Bone is out on Monday 31st January from Artificial Eye
> Buy Winter’s Bone on Blu-ray and DVD from Amazon UK
> Review of Winter’s Bone at Metacritic
> Find out more about the Ozarks at Wikipedia
Footage of King George VI making a speech makes for an interesting comparison with the latest film starring Colin Firth.
The stammer starts to become apparent about two minutes into the clip.
Now compare it to the opening sequence of the film where the future King (Colin Firth) struggles to speak in front of a large crowd.
> Review of The King’s Speech
> Find out more about King George VI at Wikipedia
Mike Randolph recently shot this film showing the tradition of human towers in Catalonia.
In Tarragona in Spain people gather every two years to build human castles (or ‘castells’), a Catalan tradition which originated in the local area around the end of the 18th century.
The sight of humans supporting each other, along with the vibrant colors inside the stadium, make for compelling viewing.
Casteller from Mike Randolph on Vimeo.
> Mike Randolph at Vimeo
> Find out more about Castells and Catalonia over at Wikipedia