Tag: John Hurt

John Hurt: A Tribute in Posters

The film community of the world mourns the loss of actor John Hurt, who died in London today, only six days after his 77th birthday. Hurt was knighted in 2016.

The dramatic actor was a veteran of stage, screen and television, earning a well-deserved respect from award-winning roles in Midnight Express, The Elephant Man, and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Of course, to sci-fi and fantasy audiences, he earned immortality as Kane in Alien, Mr. Ollivander in the Harry Potter series, and later became a bona fide British institution as The War Doctor during the 50th anniversary episode of the long-running Doctor Who.

These handful of posters barely show the length and breadth of his career, but they are a good place to start a tributary binge of his work. Hurt will next be seen in Darkest Hour as Neville Chamberlain, opposite Charles Dance in an adaptation of That Good Night, and as Leslie Salmon in British boxing film, My Name is Lenny.

January 28, 2017
Review: Jackie

“What did we accomplish?” argues an aggrieved Bobby Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard) in JACKIE. “We’re just the beautiful people, right?” When you stand at the Sixth Floor Museum in downtown Dallas in 2016, once the infamous School Book Depository and now both a memorial and a testament to the life of the 35th President of the United States, it’s hard to argue that the Kennedys didn’t impact America. Yet while Bobby’s anguish to Jackie (Natalie Portman) bemoans missed opportunities, Pablo Larraín’s film argues the enduring myth of the “shining Camelot” of the Kennedy administration is one that the former First Lady wilfully created.

Noah Oppenheim’s script picks up a week after that fateful November day, with Life magazine’s Theodore H. White (Billy Crudup) summoned to interview Jackie at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. In no uncertain terms he is told that he will report her version of events, and what unfolds is both a tale of a grieving widow forced to make unusual decisions in unusual circumstances and a filtered glimpse into life behind closed doors.

Larrain and Oppenheim use Jackie Kennedy’s restoration and televised tour of the White House as one of the key touchstones of the film, and it’s almost a heavy-handed analogy for the entire film. On one hand, we get an intimate portrait of a woman who is determined to not let the legacy of her husband be anything other than her vision. Yet it is all staged for the cameras, and as she loses her husband, her home and her title in the space of a week, it is the staging of funeral to rival Abraham Lincoln’s that occupies her time. The dichotomy between this exhibitionist act and the woman who “never wanted fame, I just became a Kennedy” is where the central tension lies.

Which makes us wonder if there’s ever any real chance of getting close to the eponymous lead. Portman’s uncanny portrayal is the focus of the picture, one that skirts the line of impression but instead inhabits the character completely. We learn more about her in a few shell-shocked scenes, still wearing a dress covered in her husband’s blood, than we could from any other source. Cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine has some lush award-worthy costumes and set-design to play with, but plays the photography straight, allowing the narrative to jump through time and remained focused on the titular lead.

Which brings us back to the quote from Sarsgaard’s Bobby Kennedy, as we must ponder whether the film accomplishes anything beyond examining beautiful people. It really is a showcase for Portman in the end, but also a timely reminder of how easy it is to manipulate the official version of the truth. As the world sails into uncharted waters of a president-elect with a penchant for a malleable approach to facts, it’s a lesson we could stand to remember on a daily basis.

[stextbox id=”grey” bgcolor=”F2F2F2″ mleft=”5″ mright=”5″ image=”null”]2016 | US, Chile, France | DIR: Pablo Larraín | WRITERS: Noah Oppenheim | CAST: Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, John Hurt | DISTRIBUTOR: eOne | RUNNING TIME: 99 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 23 November 2016 (US), 2 December 2016 (US) [/stextbox]

December 13, 2016
‘Doctor Who’ 50th anniversary trailers for ‘The Day of the Doctor’ arrive

At last, the BBC have released the first (and second) official trailer for The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary movie-length episode of Doctor Who. Set to be released around the world on 23 November, simulcast on television and selected cinema screens, it will be the 799th episode of the long-running British sci-fi drama since its debut on the same day in 1963.

Written by show-runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Nick Hurran, the show will feature the historic meeting of the Tenth (David Tennant) and Eleventh (Matt Smith) Doctors, along with a mysterious “forgotten” incarnation played by John Hurt. The episode will also star Jenna Coleman, Billie Piper, Jemma Redgrave, Joanna Page and Ingrid Oliver.

Enough prattle. You’re looking for the Doctor? You’ve certainly come to the right place.

Extended 1:20 trailer:

Original 40 second traiiler:

November 10, 2013
Blu-ray Review: Indiana Jones – The Complete Adventures

The hi-def format breathes new life into this timeless series of films, with a hatful of bonus features that give us a fly on the wall look at the creation of the series.

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Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer(s): Lawrence Kasdan, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, Jeffrey Boam, Tom Stoppard, David Koepp

Runtime: 481 minutes

Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ke Quan, Sean Connery, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliot, River Phoenix, Alison Doody, Ray Winstone, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, John Hurt

Country: US

Video: 2.35:1 (16:9)/1080p

Audio: DTS HD MA 5.1 English and Dolby 5.1 Various

Subtitles: English and Various

Extras: Documentaries, Featurettes, Trailers

Distributor: Paramount

Rating: Highly Recommended (★★★★) (?)

More info

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The Indiana Jones series didn’t simply change the face of cinema, but popular culture as well. The concept began in the early 1970s, when producer George Lucas was looking to launch one of several projects that harked back to the serial adventures of the 1930s and 1940s. One of these would eventually become that obscure film Star Wars (1977), while The Adventures of Indiana Smith sat on the shelf a while longer. The film that morphed into Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) under director Steven Spielberg went on to become one of the highest grossing films of all-time, spawned three sequels, a series of television films, countless merchandise and several Disney theme park rides. Collected together, they represent the ideologies of several generations, told in a dazzling display of imagination and old-fashioned swashbuckling.

Raiders of the Lost Ark remains the pinnacle of action-adventure over thirty years after it first hit cinema screens. Following the story of archeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) on his quest to track down the Ark of the Covenant before it falls into the hands of the Nazis, the film introduced us to the greatest academic adventurer there ever was. Sandwiching the equivalent of a dozen matinée serials into one magnificent whole, there are so many classic Indy moments from the rolling boulder, to the propeller fight and the opening of the Ark. Lawrence Kasdan’s script whip cracks along, introducing us to Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), the beautiful and tough Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) and the late, great Denholm Elliot as the befuddled Marcus Brody. Practically perfect in every way, even if the face-melting finale is looking a little dated, they don’t come better than this. Look out for a small but memorable role from Alfred Molina in his big-screen debut! Yet more than anything, it made a star of the already popular Harrison Ford, not simply coasting off his The Empire Strikes Back (1980) success but fully owning a character he rightfully birthed unto the masses.

The remainder of the films leave fans with conflicting emotions, with convincing arguments made for both Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) being the superior film. Our money is on the latter, but time has been more forgiving to the second film. Despite the outright annoying stereotype of a child in Short Round (Jonathan Ke Quan), and Willie Scott’s (Kate Capshaw) inability to do much of anything, the mine cart chase and the bridge showdown are quintessential Indiana Jones. The film, ostensibly a prequel, was much darker than its predecessor, and the use of gross-out sight-gags and hearts being ripped from chests was more a product of its time than the timeless nature of the first entry.

As a result, Elliott and Rhys-Davies returned for small roles to give the third entry a lighter tone, and the success of the scenes in Last Crusade with a young Indiana Jones (the late River Phoenix) led to a three-season TV series. It also has a stand-out set of chase sequences, incorporating boats, motorbikes, a plan and even a Zeppelin. The tone may have been a little too cheeky at times, especially a chance encounter with Adolf Hitler, but it is all in the spirit of the original. Likewise, a Nazi plot, a dangerous blonde (Alison Doody) and the introduction of Henry Jones Sr (Sean Connery) and a classic quest for the Holy Grail brought the series to a fitting close.

Or so we thought. Almost two decades after Indy hung up his whip and hat, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg teamed up once again for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Despite a title chosen by popular Internet vote, fan (and critical) reaction against this film was understandably fierce. Giving birth to the phrase “Nuke the Fridge”, which like “Jump the Shark” signifies the point where a series has passed the point of ridiculousness, the film should have been a success. Placing an ageing Indy in the midst of the Cold War makes sense, especially with villainess Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) and the return of Karen Allen, but the introduction of an alien-based plot, not to mention ‘Indy Junior’ Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) swinging from trees with monkeys demonstrated that Lucas, Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp (Spider-man, Jurassic Park) has truly lost their way. Also: what the hell was John Hurt doing?

Yet taken together, these are some of the most important blockbusters of a generation, and some of the most fondly remembered of all films from the 1980s. While we hope that no more films emerge to further sully the memory of the characters, this set allows us to revisit the best of them whenever we like.

The Discs:

The Australian 5-disc box boasts over 7 hours of bonus features, but what fans should be most pleased about is the restoration of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the remastering of the other films. While the first few murky scenes might not showcase the splendour of the new 4K scan, once Indy steps into the chamber and starts pondering how heavy a small bag of sand is, you’ll notice some amazing detail. There are some tiny problems associated with age, most noticeably the amount of grain in the darker sequences, but this appears to be common to films of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The sound is a different story, the THX-mastered DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio kicking into that familiar John Williams score, and delivering the punches where they hurt: the wee corners of your living room.

With its bright opening dance sequence, the remastered Temple of Doom is more obvious in its benefits from the start, but it is also clear that it hasn’t had the same restoration treatment. Even so, this is the best the film has looked, and while it is more subdued that the other films, thanks partly to spending huge amounts of time underground, detail is clean and sharp throughout. The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio is also quite immersive, but again not quite as bombastic as the previous film. The Last Crusade is on par, if not slightly better, although there are still some grainy moments in the dark. Even so, it’s a treat to see it looking this good. Naturally, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull looks the “best”, being born of a digital age and having already been committed to Blu-ray a few years back. This too comes with issues, with the excessive CGI and colour grading are even more noticeable on the smalls screen.

The bonus features are most contained on the fifth ‘bonus’ disc, with the theatrical and teaser trailers on the same discs as the film. This ensures that the films have the most data space available for their A/V quality. Spielberg doesn’t do commentaries, so we have to respect and live with that. The largest new feature is the On the Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark (58 minutes), an amazing collection of fly on the wall clips that show the amount of planning that Spielberg put into every scene. Split into two parts, covering two halves of the film, it can be viewed as one piece. This is complemented by a set of five Making the Films documentaries, with the original 1981 doco for Raiders (58 minutes), one from the 2005 DVD set (51 minutes), Temple of Doom (49 minutes), Last Crusade (35 minutes) and Crystal Skull (29 minutes). Notice how they get shorter as the years go by?

Also on this disc is a collection of 13 featurettes from various previous releases, covering the Stunts, Sound, Music, Light & Magic, Raiders: The Melting Face, the Creepy Crawlies, Locations, Indy’s Women (a 9 minute tribute from the American Film Institute), Indy’s Friends and Enemies, Iconic Props, the Effects and Adventures in Post-Production. The last three come from the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Blu-ray. Curiously, the latter doesn’t replicate the features from the original 2-Disc Blu-ray set.

Missing from that set is the 80 minute production diaries, “Return of a Legend”, the four featurettes not listed above, the Indiana Jones Timeline and the galleries.

Bottom Line? This is a must-own set, no matter how you cut it. If you already own the Crystal Skull Blu-ray, hold onto that 2-Disc set as you are missing a number of the features from that on this set, but the rest of this is pure gold.

September 11, 2012
Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

A complex spy thriller that treats audiences as intelligent human beings? Surely this must be the product of some latent 20th century madness. In fact, that’s exactly what it is, but there is more method than madness in this superior thriller.

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Director: Tomas Alfredson

Runtime: 127 minutes

Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy

Distributor: Universal

Country: UK

Rating: Certified Bitstastic (?)

More info

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John le Carré’s 1974 novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was partly based on the experiences of the author, a former employee of Britain’s MI5 and MI6 and working alongside the traitors that were exposed as part of the Cambridge Five scandals in the 1960s. When those events outed his identity to the Soviets, coupled with the success of le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, he abandoned his real name of David Cornwall and became a full-time writer on his series of successful books.

The intelligent spy thriller became the subject of a 1979 television mini-series, starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, a character the author has been developing since his debut novel Call of the Dead in 1961. Given the complexity of the character and the stories behind Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, it is little wonder that it has taken over 35 years to reach cinemas.

During the height of the Cold War in 1973, Control (John Hurt), the head of British Intelligence (or “The Circus” after its Piccadilly Circus location) sends operative Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) to Hungary, where the operation goes wrong and his is shot by the Soviets. Control and his right-had man George Smiley (Gary Oldman) are forced out, as Percy Alleline (Toby Jones) and Bill Haydon (Colin Firth) ascending to their former positions based on the dubious intelligence known as “Witchcraft”. However, when Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) alleges that there is a high-ranking mole in the Circus, Smiley is brought out of retirement to uncover the spy inside.

The thing that is immediately obvious about this very smart script from the late Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan (The Debt) is that great pains have been taken in not trying to update the film for the modern era. Indeed, even when the novels first came out, Smiley was seen as a kind of anti-James Bond, and despite the increasingly “realistic” Bond films in Casino Royale and its sequels, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy remains grounded in bureaucratic sensibilities and procedural drama. This is greatly aided by the look of the film, which director Alfredson has (perhaps flippantly) commented that he aimed to look like an “old man’s foreskin”. While we didn’t have a colour swatch sample handy, there is a desaturated look that pervades the film, one that simultaneously drains the film of the complications of emotions and heightens tensions with its almost clinical revelations.

The film is an incredibly complex beast, and one that will require audience attention for the duration of its lean two hours. A story so complicated that it took a 7-part TV series to tell is naturally abbreviated for the purposes of a feature film, but none of this feels anything less than whole. There will, of course, be times when viewers will be completely lost, and the pace of the film is such that it does not allow for slackers to still be pondering a scene that happened a lifetime of five minutes ago. Alfredson’s film moves at a cracking pace, and this is turn creates one of the greatest strengths of the film in its immediacy of danger and drama walking hand-in-hand.

Conversely, Oldman sits at the heart of the film in an immensely restrained stillness. Even with Smiley’s complex history, he is one that was described by le Carré as “one of London’s meek who do not inherit the earth.” So too is Oldman innocuous enough to be overlooked in rooms full of powerful personalities, including terrific performances by Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds and the fabulously aristocratic Colin Firth, commanding every bit of his royal bearing from his Oscar-winning turn in The King’s Speech. Yet Oldman is also impossible to look away from when he is on screen, be he actively investigating or merely sitting and contemplating.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy demands your whole brain, and rewards those willing to be patient with each layer as it unpeels before wrapping itself around the subsequent layers. Following his success with Let the Right One In, Alfredson has shown that he is not only a master of creating mood, but in filling it with substance, giving us just enough holes to slowly extract it as the story weaves its way to a satisfying conclusion.

[stextbox id=”custom”]An exceptional film by any standard, and one that stands out in a crowded spy genre. This is a flawless example of how to make a thriller thrilling, and one that will be the subject of repeat viewings for years to come.[/stextbox]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is released in Australia on 19 January 2011 from Universal.

January 1, 2012
Review: Melancholia

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Director: Lars Von Trier

Runtime: 130 minutes

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland

Distributor: Madman

Country: Denmark

Rating: Certified Bitstastic (?)

More info

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Lars Von Trier is a like him or hate him prospect for audiences and critics alike. Those in the former camp have loved the harsh originality of Breaking the Waves, the dark musical fantasy of Dancer in the Dark or the compelling audacity of Dogville. For others, he will simply be the fool behind The Idiots and the misfire Manderlay. The latter cohort was not persuaded by his very public comments that appeared to support Nazis at a Cannes Film Festival press conference earlier this year, with the festival instantly declaring him persona non grata and damaging the publicity for his latest film Melancholia. This is the greatest shame of all, for it may be Von Trier’s first great masterpiece.

As Justine (Kirsten Dunst) marries Michael (Alexander Skarsgård) at a lavish wedding at her sister Claire’s (Charlotte Gainsbourg) stately home, tensions between the sisters and the family emerge. Claire’s husband John (Kiefer Sutherland) makes his contempt for Justine obvious, and her frequent bouts of depression do not engender any warm feelings from him. Claire attempts to hold it together, but the wedding is a disaster. Meanwhile, a mysterious blue planet known as Melancholia approaches the Earth, producing erratic behaviour in everyone.

The slow-motion opening sequence, in which Justine sluggishly runs with feet bound by roots and earth, and two planets collide in a spectacular display of effects, acts as an interesting mirror image to Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life which also debuted around the same time as Melancholia. If Malick was recreating the origins of everything, Von Trier’s opening is the end of all things. The eight-minute sequence is not simply the most visually arresting that Von Trier has ever been, with the filmmaker seemingly liberated from the shackles of his self-imposed rules of the last few decades, but also one of the most breathtaking sequences in the history of the medium. Although Von Trier almost immediately returns to the familiar handheld “shaky cam” that has characterised the majority of his films, particularly throughout the wedding sequences, the shadow of this jaw-dropping opening is cast over the entire film, setting the tone for even those scenes where Melancholia is not a primary focus.

Melancholia is a film in two parts. The first, simply labelled Justine, focuses on the awkwardness of the wedding. The feel is not dissimilar to Von Trier’s earlier Festen, with the floating camera catching the intimate and banal moments with equal sincerity. The film drifts in and out of the house, as if in a dream, with early indications that there is something otherworldly afoot. Justine behaves in a wildly bratty manner in the first half of the film, leaving the party as she pleases, having regular sulking fits and treating her own wedding with the kind of casual flippancy that one would of somebody else’s garden party. Yet it rapidly becomes obvious that, like a great Dane before her, something is rotten in the stately manor. Seemingly surrounded by idiots and opportunists, her mother (Charlotte Rampling) takes every opportunity to belittle her, her advertising executive boss (Stellan Skarsgård) attempts to extract a campaign slogan from her and her father is simply a lost man. “I smile and I smile and I smile”, she says, but her sister sees straight through it. “You’re lying to all of us”.

One of the weightier themes in this first half of the film is that of depression, and as we move into the second part (labelled “Claire”) the significance of the rogue planet Melancholia takes on a dual meaning. “Melancholia is just going to pass right in front of us,” predicts Sutherland’s character. “And it is going to be the most beautiful sight”. We already know the fate of the planets from the opening sequence, so the inevitability of the scenario instantly gives us a dual meaning to this statement. He could just as easily be referring to Justine, who begins to transform from a deadened-limbed character stricken with chronic depression to someone suddenly awakened, just as Claire begins to act as irrationally as Justine was during the wedding. Melancholia is at the height of its narrative strength in this back half of the film, but all of the parts work together to form a cohesive whole.

Dunst, who won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, is at her finest as Justine. Transitioning from her flighty happiness of her introductory scenes, through petulance, paralytic depression and ultimately enlightenment. We have seen Dunst in a variety of roles, from The Virgin Suicides to blockbusters such as Spider-man, and she draws on them all here. The seasoned Gainsbourg is initially depicted as the exemplar of normalcy in the film, but she too is able to flip on a dime and give us sustained neurotic angst.

Melancholia is undoubtedly a beautiful film, but filtered through the eyes of someone who does not see the world in this way. “The Earth is evil. We don’t need to grieve for it. Nobody will miss it, ” remarks Justine, but that could be Von Trier’s voice as well. Like all things Von Trier, this will undoubtedly divide audiences straight down the middle. Combining the grand romanticism of the Wagnerian score, Von Trier isn’t so much celebrating the beauty of the Earth as welcoming its imminent destruction.

[stextbox id=”custom”]Melancholia is a film like no other, with Von Trier realising the potential he has exhibited throughout his career to date. Visually arresting and emotionally engaging, Melancholia is undoubtedly one of the best films of the year. [/stextbox]

Melancholia will be released on 15 December 2011 in Australia from Madman Films.

December 13, 2011
Review: Immortals

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Director: Tarsem Singh

Runtime: 110 minutes

Starring: Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans, John Hurt

Distributor: Universal

Country: US

Rating: Worth a Look (?)

More info

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Tarsem Singh, also known simply as Tarsem, began his film career like so many from his generation in commercials and music videos. Working with R.E.M and En Vogue, he began developing a visually arresting glossy style that he would employ in his debut feature film The Cell, and again in his sophomore effort The Fall. Having made a little history with his gladiator-themed Pepsi commercial, using a series a mega pop stars and Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, Tarsem has now expanding his history lessons by dipping into Greek mythology for Immortals.

Following the death of his family, the Heraklion King of Crete, Hyperion (Mickey Rourke, The Expendables) declares war on Olympus, with the gods failing to hear his calls. He aims to procure Epirus Bow, a powerful weapon created by Ares (Daniel Sharman), the God of War. With the bow, he will be able to unleash the Titans, beings capable of destroying the gods. However, Zeus (Luke Evans, The Three Musketeers) has forbidden any devine intervention in the affairs of man. In this quest, Hyperion captures the virgin oracle Phaedra (Freida Pinto, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), and marches on a small village where Theseus (Henry Cavill, Blood Creek) watches his life get torn apart. Now he must save the oracle and enact vengeance on Hyperion before it is too late.

On the surface, Immortals may be simply no more than a rehash of Clash of the Titans or 300. In fact, in many ways, this is exactly what it is, with the sweaty camera cranking fight scenes now a standard in modern historical action. Where Tarsem immediately sets his films apart from others is in the staging and the look of the film, which is nothing short of breathtaking. From the opening shots of the Titans in their foosball machine cage, there is a distinctive visual style that is entirely Tarsem’s, but with clear comparisons to be made with Julie Taymor’s Titus or perhaps even the works of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Blending CGI with real sets and lavish production design, the film has an unearthly glow about it, and like candy for the eyes, we know it is probably not very good for us, but it is impossible to look away. The suits of armour seem impossibly impractical, and Armani is apparently tailoring for the gods now, but it looks a treat.

One of the other distinctive elements to Tarsem’s vision of Greek mythology is basing it in some degree of reality, even if this reality is the playground of the gods. The Minotaur (Robert Maillet, Sherlock Holmes) is not a magical part-bull creature at all, but a man in an imaginatively fashioned and terrifying headpiece with seemingly superhuman strength. The approach infuses everything Tarsem does in Immortals, from the glistening beads of sweat on the fighting soldiers to the torrents of blood that erupt from the fallen ones. Immortals may look good, but it ain’t always pretty.

Henry Cavill impresses as Theseus, although there isn’t much in the way of development with his character. However, it is easy to see why he was cast as Superman in the forthcoming Man of Steel, with the physique of the Kryptonian and the boyish charm of Clark Kent. Pinto’s character is horribly underdeveloped, but she is just the window dressing/prize in this manliest of manly tales, after all. Rourke is, of course, a formidable foe, stealing every scene he is in. The gods, who also include Australia’s Isabel Lucas, are just pretty to look at.

Immortals never attempts to push the boundaries in the storytelling stakes, and in many ways that is not its aim. With enough holes in the plot to fairly call it Swiss Cheese, the script isn’t as pretty as the scenery. Why did the gods not just kill the Titans instead of caging them, for example. Yet this is popcorn fodder of the first order at worst, and a first step in injecting more artisti filmmaking styles into action blockbusters at best. It may not always work, but it is a adrenaline-filled ride along the way, and if it fails to connect with audiences, it looks damn good doing it.

[stextbox id=”custom”]A wholly familiar tale boosting by stunning visuals and a mostly fine cast. It’s certainly the most beautiful action film of the year, and will be sure to find a cult audience on that level alone. [/stextbox]

Immortals is released on 24 November 2011 in Australia from Universal.

November 23, 2011
New set of UK posters for Melancholia

When he isn’t sympathising with Hitler, Lars Von Trier is making films. Melancholia has managed to garner masses of interest in the festival season, and these six new character posters revealed today by Empire Online have got us even more excited. Well, five character posters and one of Von Trier himself. Yes, he put himself in the poster campaign.

Melancholia may or may not be about a wedding at something which may or may not be the end of the world. These posters feature John Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgard and, of course, Von Trier.

Here are the new character posters, just click the images below to see bigger versions.

Melancholia is released on 26 December 2012 in Australia from Madman.

September 28, 2011
Review: Brighton Rock

Despite its status as a literary classic, Brighton Rock fails to translate to the screen as either a successful adaptation or drama. An incredibly talented cast is hampered by a lifeless script that never gets beyond the surface of these tragic characters.

Graham Greene’s 1938 novel “Brighton Rock” began, in the words of the author, “as a detective story and continued, I am sometimes tempted to think, as an error of judgement”. Adaptations have been attempted over the years, most notably John Boulting ‘s 1947 film, released to US audiences as Young Scarface!

Named after the confectionary sold in seaside resorts in the UK, the allegorical tale has since seen the light of day as a radio play and an unsuccessful musical from the late John Barry and lyricist Don Black. Screenwriter Rowan Joffé, best known for 28 Weeks Later and The American, makes his directorial feature debut with this latest reworking of the tale.

When the innocent Rose (Andrea Riseborough, Never Let Me Go) inadvertently comes in contact with evidence of a revenge killing committed by Pinkie (Sam Riley, Control). Pinkie seduces Rose to find out how much she knows about the killing, and to ensure that she is not going to go to the police. Yet an unconventional love story develops, with each party unsure of how far they can trust the other.

Greene’s deceptively simple narrative, of crooks on the shores of Brighton, is interwoven with a Catholic subtext, and a metaphorical take on the human condition in its original form. Joffé’s film, based on his own adapted screenplay, shifts the tale from the 1930s to 1964, during a time when clashes between Mods and Rockers was causing moral panic amongst the good citizens of Blighty. In doing so, Joffé attempts to create a kind of modern noir, filled with the misty greys and blues of 1960s England and an oppressive score from Martin Phipps (Small Island).

Beginning with the familiar chase to the pier and Ida (Helen Mirren, RED) in the pub, almost line-for-line from Greene’s novel, there is a sense that Joffé’s Brighton Rock is going to add very little to the perpetually evolving story. Indeed, Joffé’s film – filled with mysterious cinematography of John Mathieson (Robin Hood) – adds about 20 minutes to the running time of Boulting’s earlier film, but still manages to lose even more of the subtext of the novel in the process. Pinkie and Rose are merely window dressing for an inevitability of events in this version of the tale.

Joffé’s scripts have always managed to keep the audience at arm’s length to a certain extent, with the sterile nature of the 28 Weeks Later world giving way to the ultimate stand-offish character in George Clooney’s The American. With Pinkie and Rose, we never get beyond the surface. They certainly look, and perhaps even sound, the part: Riley looks every bit as striking as he did portraying Joy Division’s Ian Curtis in Anton Corbijn’s biopic Control, with Roseborough every bit the clueless homespun beauty that she should be.

Yet the rest of the film, and its characters (with the possibly exceptions of John Hurt and Sean Harris, as the ill-fated Hale) are mere imitations of a bygone era, with little perspective added by this 21st century adaptation. Transplanting the events of the book to the 1960s doesn’t seem to have been done with any concern other than a stylistic liberty being taken, and it leaves the characters as hollow anachronisms, wandering the foggy corridors of Brighton as if they were ghosts. Perhaps the biggest crime of this film is that it robs us (and Rose) of the cruelty of the original ending, which we won’t spoil here, but the softening of the final blow to Rose is only cruel to the audience.

Brighton Rock opened in cinemas around Australia on 14 April 2011 from Madman Entertainment.

April 17, 2011