November at the Movies

 

• This article was first published on 01/11/11 in VIDA magazine.
• Release dates are subject to change. All films released locally by KRS Film Distributors Ltd.

film of the month:

The Ides of March

George Clooney is not just a pleasant leading man with nicely-chiselled features. Amongst other things, he’s been trying his hand at directing for the past decade, and his 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck, which he directed, starred in and co-wrote, is a flawless little gem that has class written all over it. He’s now returning to the political arena with another film in which he also stars, this time as an American presidential candidate.

As the presidential hopeful builds momentum and seems destined for the White House, his campaign is being run by a junior, but very talented, campaign manager (Ryan Gosling, who seems to be in everything nowadays, and was particularly good in the recent Crazy Stupid Love and Drive). Offers start to come in, as I’m sure they do in real life, of shows of support in return for favours later on. But the candidate tries to stick to his principles, and the campaign manager isn’t sure which side to stay on.

Rounding off the impressive cast are Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote, Magnolia), Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny, The Wrestler), Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Cinderella Man) and Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale, Syriana). With the media-heavy Obama campaign fresh in our minds, it’s easy to imagine Clooney in the role, and this time we get to see what goes on behind the scenes. With a title like this, I guess we can safely assume there will be a certain amount of back-stabbing.

 

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also released this month:

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

Yes, that is the actual title. Since the Harry Potter final film split seemed to work nicely, this other fantasy franchise decided to hop on the money train too. So the fourth and final book in the werewolves vs. vampires love story will be fleshed out into two films. This is great news for Twilight fans, I imagine. The chapter kicks off with a wedding, but it turns out that marriages between humans and the undead aren’t such a good idea after all. Needless to say, this is only for those who have watched (and enjoyed) the previous three films.

 

The Rum Diary

Johnny Depp continues to mix staple, blockbuster roles (such as the cash behemoth he heads as Jack Sparrow) with smaller, more intriguing films. One of his weirdest trips was the drug-fuelled haze of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, based on the book by Hunter S. Thompson, which was a perfect fit for the eccentric talents of director Terry Gilliam, and Depp. This new film is an adaptation of another book by the same author, and this time takes us to Puerto Rico, where an American journalist immerses himself fully into the local craziness, aided significantly by the joys of rum. This should be fun.

 

Happy Feet 2

Happy Feet was an icy-cool breath of fresh air, that came out of nowhere and was one of the most original, and enjoyable, animated films of recent years. But despite what appeared to be a fluffy, jukebox-style first half, it also dared to delve deeper, and had a few disturbing and thought-provoking moments later on. Thankfully, the sequel is still the work of George Miller (who was also the man behind Babe), so hopefully it won’t descend into cheap sequel-itis. Elijah Wood (you know, Frodo) returns as Mumble the penguin, although he’s now all grown-up and doing some parenting of his own. Also reprising their vocal roles are Robin Williams and Hugo Weaving, and joining the arctic fun are Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Pink, and Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara.

 

Tower Heist

I love heist films, and this one’s a comedy too. Director Brent Ratner has successfully juggled crime and comedy in the past with the Rush Hour films, and this time he has an incredible cast at his disposal - Ben Stiller (Tropic Thunder), Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), Matthew Broderick (Godzilla), Alan Alda (M*A*S*H, 30 Rock), Tea Leoni (Spanglish) and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious). And adding some veteran mania to the comedy is Eddie Murphy, who might be hoping this film gives his comedy career a bump in time for next year’s Oscars, which it looks like he will be hosting.

 

Straw Dogs

This is an apparently faithful remake of the disturbing 1971 film, about a young couple who drop everything and go to live in an idyllic house in the woods. They start to be harassed and taunted by workmen and neighbours, with things eventually getting very out of hand. James Marsden (Enchanted, Superman Returns) and Kate Bosworth (Blue Crush, Superman Returns) reprise the roles originally played by Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. The original film was infamous for a few graphic scenes, so this might not be for everyone.

 

Contagion

Disaster movies are fun. Those standard shots of newscasters announcing the tragedy, presidents calling for calm, and (this one is obligatory) people slowly getting out of their cars in standstill traffic, make for great cinema, with us viewers obviously rooting for the human race. And amongst all disasters, outbreaks are often the most chilling, since we have been subjected to similar, but thankfully better-controlled, epidemics in the past few years. No matter how scary an alien looks, it can’t cause as much paranoia and panic as an invisible virus that you could pick up by touching a door handle. Steven Soderbergh directs, and the ensemble cast consists of Marion Cottilard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet. It’s not every day we see a Best Actress winner be killed off in a film - but with three to choose from here, it’s safe to say we will.

October at the Movies

 

 

• This article was first published on 01/10/11 in VIDA magazine.
• Release dates are subject to change. All films released locally by KRS Film Distributors Ltd.

film of the month:

The Adventures of Tintin

Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are, to put it mildly, quite big names in the world of cinema - the former having gone from interesting but small projects to the hugely successful The Lord of the Rings trilogy and beyond, and the latter being the man behind over three decades of blockbusters and some of the most famous films ever made. So the prospect of them joining forces on a project is very promising, and is bound to draw attention.

That project is the big-screen adaptation of the long-running and very popular Tintin comics - a Belgian series that ran for most of the 20th Century and was eventually translated extensively to reach a worldwide audience. Even to someone who has never read the comics before (such as yours truly), the image of Tintin, with his gravity-defying hairstyle and canine sidekick, is an instantly recognisable one. Spielberg and Jackson seem to be eager fans of the boy’s adventures, and this film is the first of a projected three.

The slightly controversial motion-capture animation style was chosen as the best way to portray the comics - the same melding of acting and animation that made The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol look very spectacular but rather creepy. Thankfully, the images and footage we’ve seen so far indicate that this time around the accent is more on making the characters look like the original cartoons, rather than too realistic, whilst still making use of the expressions and performance of the actors in the motion-capture suits.

Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, King Kong) is the titular character, and motion-capture veteran Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), is Captain Haddock. Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost also star. Being a Spielberg-directed affair, the film also marks the much-welcomed return of John Williams to the film score scene, after a period of semi-retirement interrupted only for the Indiana Jones sequel three years ago. So we can expect great music, we can expect adventure, and since they had tonnes of individual comics to choose from, I’m pretty sure we can expect a great story.

 

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also released this month:

Johnny English Reborn

British Agent Johnny English fumbled onto the big screen around eight years ago with the wonderful tagline “He knows no fear. He knows no danger. He knows nothing.” Combining the famous idiotic antics of Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean character with the modern world of spies and the secret service, the film was more or less a British version of the Get Smart TV series that Mel Brooks created in the 60s, and which also made in onto the big screen recently. Despite a mixed critical reception, Johnny English was a big hit this side of the Atlantic, so here is the inevitable sequel. With more gadgets, more espionage, and the same bumbling idiot at the centre, this should provide a predictable but enjoyable dose of slapstick entertainment.

 

The Three Musketeers

Here’s another classic story that filmmakers never tire of adapting, and apparently audiences never tire of watching. It seems only yesterday that we had the version with the Sting/Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart song, but that was a distant 1993, and since then we also had the loose adaptation The Musketeer in 2001. This new imagining has a line-up with makes the bad guys looks distinctly more interesting than the musketeers - with Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) and Orlando Bloom (Kingdom of Heaven) lurking in dark corners and sporting suitably-pointy facial hair; and Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element) as the deceptive Milady. Fresh-faced newcomer Logan Lerman, who had the title role in the Percy Jackson film, earns his spurs as D’Artagnan, and the most recognisable of the three musketeers themselves is probably Matthew Macfadyen (Frost/Nixon, Pride and Prejudice). Jovovich’s husband Paul W.S. Anderson, who had a promising start to his career (Event Horizon) but who is now mostly known as the man behind the endless Resident Evil series, is in the director’s chair, which suggests that this may be a darker and more action-oriented take on Dumas’ classic tale.

 

Footloose

There were at least four big dance films in the 80s, which combined a handful of catchy anthems with a young cast and lots of dancing to make feel-good films that were very popular. Footloose, which came after Fame and Flashdance, but before the huge Dirty Dancing, was the first starring role for Kevin Bacon, and his iconic and rebellious role will now be handed over to Kenny Wormald, who so far is known for his dancing but not for his acting. Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow) and Andie MacDowell (Groundhog Day) star as the uptight parents of one of the town’s hottest girls, who are against street-dancing and lobby to have it banned. Of course, true love and the power of dance will win out in the end, and everyone will live happily ever after, etc.. I just hope they somehow manage to keep ‘Holding Out For a Hero’ in the soundtrack.

 

The Lion King 3D

Any excuse to watch The Lion King again is fine by me, and any chance to see it on the big screen should be jumped at. Nearly two decades after Hakuna Matata became a household expression, Simba and friends have been given a 3D makeover, and we are being given a chance to rediscover one of Disney’s best-loved classics. That stampede scene should look pretty impressive.

 

The Debt

This month’s brainiest film is a political thriller that jumps between the 60s and the 90s to tell the story of Mossad agents on the trail of a Nazi war-criminal. It’s a remake of a well-received Israeli film from a few years ago, and is directed by John Madden, of Shakespeare in Love fame. Helen Mirren (The Queen) stars, along with Sam Worthington (Avatar), Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life), Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) and Ciarán Hinds, who previously starred in the great Mossad thriller Munich.

 

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Screen Themes - Music for Happy Endings

The Grand Finale of my year of Screen Themes - the music that ends films on an uplifting note.

Music for Happy Endings // 19th Sept 2011 // #34 by Screenthemes // Markcamilleri on Mixcloud

Screen Themes - MovieMusic Travels 4

For our last trip around the globe, we sample some gorgeous film scores from five different continents - including three of the most famous capital cities in the world, as well as a few exotic jungles and beaches.

MovieMusic Travels 4 // 12th Sept 2011 // #33 by Screenthemes // Markcamilleri on Mixcloud

Screen Themes - Music for Middle-earth

Three excellent films, three excellent scores. Peter Jackson and Howard Shore raised the bar very high at the start of this century. Nearly a decade later, nothing else has come even close.

Music for Middle-earth // 5th Sept 2011 // #32 by Screenthemes // Markcamilleri on Mixcloud

The End of a Fanboy Era

 

 

This article was first published on 01/09/11 in VIDA magazine.

 

 

This summer, as I walked out of the cinema with the Harry Potter credits music still running through my head, I couldn’t help but feel that a large chunk of my youth, which started back in 1999 during a midnight screening of The Phantom Menace, had come to a close.

For those of us who had their late teens or their twenties during the past decade or so, the development of movie franchise ‘fandom’ has been very interesting to watch and, if so inclined, take part in. Over the course of twelve years and fourteen films, the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchises have managed to make their new releases into events which make otherwise-sane people queue up at midnight and discuss intricate plot details on online forums, while the filmmakers count their millions. Against the backdrop of the internet explosion, it has been a rapidly evolving marketing machine, but one that I was more than happy to be a consumer of.

Back in the late 90s, before YouTube, facebook or ‘sharing’, the fevered anticipation for the Star Wars prequels still managed to spread like wildfire online. Apple’s much-loved iTunes film trailers were still a mundane Quicktime website, which was congested like never before when the first teaser and then trailer were released online, to unprecedented views and response. Online film trailers are now everywhere, but back then Phantom Menace managed to set the ball rolling in spectacular fashion, and I for one gladly waited an entire night for my moribund dial-up connection to download the highest-resolution version. As it turned out, the trailers would be possibly better than the actual film, but those are just details when the hype is so huge.

 

Meet me at midnight

The screenings were the next trend. Previously reserved for B-movies and late night entertainment, the witching hour suddenly became the best way to launch an event movie in style. The reasoning was simple - if the film studio has set a strict release date, why not watch it at 00:01 in the morning, to save you a few more hours of waiting? Thankfully, Malta caught on very quickly. Although Star Wars Episode I was released in most of Europe nearly 3 months later than the US (something that would be unthinkable today), the eager local fans still got a midnight screening on Malta’s largest screen, complete with Darth Maul and Darth Vader duelling on stage before the show began. I was initially slightly embarrassed to attend, and had to walk home afterwards (driving lessons were still in progress), but it was worth every minute. The packed cinema included everything from packs of unsightly males in matching t-shirts, to two of my lecturers and even the occasional attractive lass, and the excitement was palpable. So palpable, in fact, that we were more than willing to forgive the film’s huge faults, and return in similar style for the sequels three and six years later. I’ll never forget the magical hush as the words ‘A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away’ were projected onto the screen and my entire field of vision. It was well worth the walk.

Besides the other Star Wars prequels, midnight screenings and cinema marathons soon became de rigueur for the Lord of the Rings films, Harry Potter (both book and film launches), and any other event movie that the distributors thought was viable enough. Part of the fun was obviously knowing that you’re surrounded by fellow fans, but the rush to be the first to see it also played a major role.

 

 

 

Snobbery

Like most things in life, preferences varied. Personal favouritism tussled with objective criticism of the films to make some fans take sides. I had no problem at all mustering an army for the Return of the King midnight screening, but most of my friends abandoned me two years later for the last of the Star Wars films. And Harry Potter seems to have been the preferred domain of the younger crowd, and I for one was perfectly happy to read the books months and years after their release, and then see the films at my own pace. But all three franchises had a comparably impressive hold on generations X and Y. Looking back, it seems indubitable that LOTR far surpassed the other two in terms of film quality, with the three films being both amazing adaptations of the treasured books, and films accessible to a very wide audience. Which is why, like many of my friends, I suggested it to my parents, but would never dream of sitting them down in front of Attack of the Clones.

 

Harry Potter has also proved to be a sharp adaptation job, also benefiting from one of the most impressive casts ever assembled, and the collaboration of the author. I suspect that if I were a decade younger I would have devoured them with greater zeal. But still, I enjoyed every one of them, and for an entire decade they were something to look forward to. Star Wars reigns supreme because of the indelible legacy left by the original trilogy, although despite George Lucas’ flaccid direction the three new films did manage to steadily improve, and were still a feast for the senses.

 

Another level

Of course, just like participation was optional, so was the level of involvement. Not everyone likes to remain spoiler-free until D-day, and then discuss and dissect films at length online. Not everyone needs to wear a wizard costume to the midnight screening. And thankfully not everyone chooses to name their son Anakin. I chanced upon the world premiere of the final Harry Potter film recently, in Trafalgar and Leicester Squares. I rather enjoyed it, although for me and many others it simply involved walking around the perimeter fence, trying to catch a glimpse of a star or two, and taking a couple of photos. Others had chosen to camp in the rain from two days earlier to get a good spot, and I saw mothers leaving the enclosure consoling teenage girls as they bawled their eyes out and stared at smudged signatures on their hand. To each his own, I guess. Midnight screenings might seem like insanity to many, and tattoos of the Millennium Falcon might seem like insanity to me. But that’s one of the beauties of fandom - you pick your level of involvement, depending on how interested you are (and how much time you have on your hands).

 

 

 

So now what?

Despite the glittering conclusions of the above three sagas, there are obviously many other ways for us to spend our time (and money). The fantasy genre, breathed back into life by Frodo and friends, is alive and very well, with numerous films following in Return of the King’s wake. None have been as good, so far, although the ongoing Game of Thrones TV series should keep appetites sated for quite a while, considering the great source material. Attempts at kindling new franchises, such as the Narnia series and the Inheritance cycle (Eragon), fell rather short of the mark. Twilight is raking in millions, despite scathing reviews of all the films, but their target audience is very narrow (and I am obviously not part of it). Science-fiction is of course constant, but again, not even a brilliant reboot of the Star Trek franchise possessed the necessary magic and sense of history to equal the scale of the Force. Plus, what’s the fun without lightsabers?

 

Other genres and franchises have fan bases of their own, and I for one look forward eagerly to the final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, which has been quite unprecedented in terms of critical acclaim and fan appreciation. But I doubt that any superhero film, or any other film of huge proportions such as Avatar, could ever compete with something like middle-earth, because of the huge amount of detail that creators such as Tolkien and Lucas have put into creating their universe. Which is why you can find Master degrees in Tolkien literature, and countless novels set in the Star Wars expanded universe.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not tolling any death bells yet. As Hollywood obviously knows very well, where there’s money to be made and pocket-money to exploit, film franchises will find a way to re-invent themselves. Until then, we also have many tangential projects to keep us occupied. Lucas has clearly stated that he won’t make any more prequels or sequels, which is probably a good thing. But the rebels and the empire live on in video games, an animated TV series, and a possible live-action TV series that has been hinted at. J. K. Rowling has an intriguing online Potter project in the pipeline, although she has clearly stated that no more stories will be written about the bespectacled boy. Peter Jackson is filming The Hobbit at this very moment, which is great news for LOTR fans, although I can’t seem to get too excited about it yet. Of course, that will all change once I see the first teaser trailer.

 

 

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Films released this month:

 

CONAN THE BARBARIAN - the film that made Schwarzenegger a star gets remade, with just as much muscles and probably more gore.

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS - Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis star as a couple of attractive friends who fool around but agree never to get romantically involved. Yeah right.

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY - classy cast, classy spy novel, classy period setting - this looks great.

JANE EYRE - classics are called such for a reason, which might explain why this one is made into a film every ten minutes or so.

THE CHANGE-UP - Two male friends. One’s house is littered with nappies, the other with thongs. They swap bodies for some adult comedy.

KILLER ELITE - Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert DeNiro, plus guns, action and intrigue.

COLOMBIANA - Zoe Saldana starts as a sexy assassin with vengeance on her mind. Nikita meets Kill Bill.

 

Release dates are subject to change. All films released locally by KRS Film Distirbutors Ltd.

Screen Themes - Music for Champions

Crossing the finish-line or scoring the winning goal never sounded so good.

Music for Champions // 29th Aug 2011 // #31 by Screenthemes // Markcamilleri on Mixcloud

Screen Themes - MovieMusic Travels 3

More exotic locations, more great film music! With a special Russian treat to finish things off.

MovieMusic Travels 3 // 22nd Aug 2011 // #30 by Screenthemes // Markcamilleri on Mixcloud

Screen Themes - Bond Music

The enduring James Bond series has consistently great music - but not just the theme songs. Here are some highlights for the often unsung (literally) film scores, which are just as memorable.

Bond Music // 8th Aug 2011 // #29 by Screenthemes // Markcamilleri on Mixcloud

Screen Themes - Music for Manly Men

Macho MovieMusic for some of the best use of anabolic steroids we've ever seen on screen.

Music for Manly Men // 1st Aug 2011 // #28 by Screenthemes // Markcamilleri on Mixcloud