The Sweeney: Trailer breakdown

The dusty shelves of TV shows waiting to get the big screen treatment just got one lighter with the release of the first trailer for the big screen adaptation of The Sweeney:

With Ray Winstone in the John Thaw ‘Regan’ role and Plan B…yes…Plan B in the Dennis Waterman ‘Carter’ role (still no official word if Mr. B will do a 100% Waterman and sing the theme) the trailer offers no surprises, just the following:

1. Ray Winstone has been employed to do his best Ray Winstone impression. We have been treated to the ‘You’re nicked’ line in trailer number one. Fingers crossed for ‘You Shlaaaaag’ or ‘Guv’ in the next lot of trailers.

2. Prizes for deciphering ANYTHING Plan B says in the trailer. He is obviously hoping for the Heath Ledger/Brokeback Mountain award for being completely incoherent.

3. Brody is in it. THAT’S where he was for eight years.

Roll neck jumpers and leather jackets at the ready…

Happy New-ish Year!

OK so it’s nearly April.

Considering I haven’t written an entry since August last year and the first three months have evaporated, I think it is only right to pause, take time and allow yourself another Happy New Year. Given so much has already happened – Shakespeare Festivals, overseas trips etc – a catch up is in order…

Firstly, I’m back reviewing movies for Elise Rayner every Friday afternoon on BBC Radio Bristol. Catch ups and links will be posted after the show.

Also, I have also joined the fab team at The Public Reviews so links and theatre reviews will also be added to this site.

I always invite comments, recommendations and suggestions. I won’t necessarily like or agree with them but I’ll always read, watch and listen to them.

SM.

Oh…you guys!

OK.

Yesterday, there was this: Superman News

Today, there was this: Batman News

Tonight: Empire Magazine reports that Sony have slated a sequel for The Amazing Spiderman for a 2014 release. That’s right. The Amazing Spiderman is still being shot and is due out next year.

This Superhero Poker Game is starting to wear thin…

…and I’ll raise you a Cat.

In what must be a battle of egos, DC Comics seem to be mindful of the market saturation of Marvel heroes at the moment. With Thor doing big business, Captain America cleaning up and the talk of the Avengers Movie, Marvel really is the comic book business to watch.

Not to be outdone, DC have recently released their first of what is sure to be many Batman: Dark Knight Rises teaser trailers, a pic of Tom Hardy with his shiny back and his muzzled front as bad guy Bane and yesterday, as I reported, the first pic of Henry Cavill as Superman (release date 2013) hit the net.

Not letting the ball drop, DC have released today the first picture of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. It’s probably not the slinky Halle Berry-esque catsuit that fans were hoping for but there is a year to go and they are called teasers for a reason.

No doubt Marvel will see DC’s Cat and raise them an Avenger soon enough. I’m waiting for the 2014 reboot of THAT Bonnie Tyler hit where she takes all this onboard, changes her mind and is ‘Holding Out For A Mortal’ instead.

In the meantime, the game continues:

How long are we meant to hold our breath!?

The nature of Hollywood these days is to drum up as much excitement over as long a period as possible. Whether you split a film into two parts and make us pulsate in a frenzy of anticipation for part 2 (a la Harry Potter 7, Twilight Breaking Dawn, The Hobbit) or release a teaser trailer a year ahead of release: The Dark Knight Rises , The Amazing Spiderman, The Avengers – they are always thinking about maximizing their audience and getting us as fired up about their film as possible. The net result is often that you can piece all the sneak peak set pics, teaser trailers, official trailers and exclusive first 8 minute sequences together and you’ve pretty much seen the whole film.

Today however, we reached a new level of teaser. Today saw the release of a ‘first look’ picture from a highly anticipated film TWO YEARS in advance of the films release.

TWO YEARS.

Holding your breath is not recommended.

Zac Snyder’s upcoming Superman: Man of Steel has already whipped up a frenzy with casting news – Kevin Costner as Pa Kent, Russell Crowe as Pa Superman, Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White, Amy Adams as Lois Lane and not least Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel himself. So far, so exciting. Originally slated for release in 2012, we recently heard news of it being pushed back to 2013 for ‘Script Development’. The fact that 2012 already appears to be the Year of The Superhero (Bat, Spider, Hulk, Iron et al) may also have had something to do with the move to 2013.

The idea that we need some lead up goes without saying. When Tim Burton brought Batman back to the big screen for his first outing, we had a fly around the Batman symbol as a teaser for a month before the release. That was enough. But now, what with rolling news, people like me banging on about them for ages and ill-advised blurry long shots from paparazzi, studios feel they need to do it officially.

Does Henry Cavill look the part in the suit? You bet.

Will Zac Snyder finally lay the ghost of Bryan Singer’s awful Superman Returns to rest? Hope so.

Are we going to hold our breath for two years? No. We’ll be gasping with excitement at the Batman teaser trailer which is coming out a year before. A year from now.

In case you are wondering:

…and breathe.

Ding Dong…

With the upcoming Royal Wedding, my producer asked me to compile a Top Ten Movie Wedding Inspired list. The obvious ones sprang to mind straight away, ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’, ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ but when you are asked to devise your own Top Ten, you want to be able to stand by them and have them on your own shelves. Not that I have a problem with Richard Curtis and Hugh Grant (as you will see) but once I actually got to thinking (and crowbarring), I found there to be ten fabulous distractions (for Republicans) or reinforcements (for Monarchists) that have weddings as an integral part of the film:

10: CORPSE BRIDE

Forget Sleepy Hollow, forget Batman Returns (not that theres anything wrong with them…well, Sleepy Hollow at least). Corpse Bride is a classic Tim Burton Gothic, fantasy, fairytale in all his dark, beautiful animated glory. With elements of his early work (see Vincent) and the advent of technology, Burton made gothic weddings a must attend event.

9: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Branagh. Shakespeare. Even Richard Briers giving Kate Beckinsale a whack. ‘Nuff said. (Just don’t mention Keanu Revees, dude.)

8: LOVE ACTUALLY

A Richard Curtis triumph that pieces together Altmann-esque strands into one neat package of love. With, arguably one of the best opening scenes ever, this is great…actually.

7: WHEN HARRY MET SALLY

In what has to be one of the most quotable films ever made, Nora Ephron created the classic conversation opener.

6: FATHER OF THE BRIDE

Before any of you claim that I have lost all credibility (I lost that years ago) by recommending a Martin Short film, you can all relax. Spencer Tracey, Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Bennett give the remake mob a lesson in class.

5: THE WEDDING SINGER

Rarely does the word ‘brilliant’ get used in the same sentence as the name Adam Sandler. Here, brilliant doesn’t even begin to describe The Wedding Singer in all its 80′s glory. Never has the J. Geils Band sounded better. Woopedy-Doo!

4: THE HANGOVER

What can easily be described as the surprise hit of 2010, it could have been a standard dumb Farrely Brothers style bro-medy. What is turned out to be was a genuinely funny rollercoaster that spurned the Phil Collins-Mike Tyson fusion. Hangover 2 has a lot to live up to.

3: SIDEWAYS

In a rare example of a film that was better than a book, two men and a stag week in wine country, California has never been funnier or more touching. What it didn’t do for the Merlot business, it did wonders for the mis-matched buddy movie genre and confirmed Paul Giamatti as a major league neurotic good guy.

2: THE PHILADELPHIA STORY

Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart. Casts don’t come classier or more beautiful than that.  Simple, straight forward Hollywood Gold.

1: ROYAL WEDDING

Some may say an obvious choice but for the one scene that challenged film making and astonished audiences, Fred and Jane make it to the top spot. If Kate and William don’t have their first dance to ‘You’re All The World To Me’, they are missing a trick.

Stifling thoughts may be damaging to your health…

OK, so there is no real scientific evidence to support the title to this post. What there is though is an alarming rate of me being called a grumpy old man or a ranter which led me to being aware of the phenomenon of Brain Traffic.

This blog used to be dedicated purely to the movies I reviewed for BBC Radio. I realised not so long ago that BBC Radio is my outlet and the reviews were an online form of what I would whitter about on air. Good as a record but as Sally said to Harry, “It’s already out there”.

So, for the record, my blogging will re-commence but it will have a much broader modus operandi. Generally arts related, often nonsense in the grand scheme of things but always fun. Engines ready…

Review: Disney’s Tangled

Disney’s last feature, The Princess and The Frog was by all accounts a critical and box office success but was deemed by some to be alienating certain members of its audience – namely boys. For its 50th animated feature, Disney needed a big hitter. A film that celebrated all that was best about Disney whilst appealing to as broad an audience as possible. After all, if Toy Story 3 could do it…

Tangled is a retelling of the Grimm fairytale Rapunzel. It starts by giving us a concise back story and then puts us firmly in the action of Rapunzel’s day to day routine. From this point on, it is clear we are going to get a modern, sassy version that is highlighted by Alan Menken’s fabulous score.

The characters are all well developed. From scoundrel to leading man, Flynn Rider has all the charm, one liners and smoulder a romantic lead needs. Mother Gothel feels like she is straight out of a musical such as Chicago. She is sassy, villanous and has the best song in the film (Mother Knows Best – which should have been nominated instead of I See The Light). The film is almost stolen by Maximus, the horse who thinks he is a dog. Amazing what you can do with a character who has no lines and relies on physical comedy. Rare these days and so much fun.

This has the feel of something larger than the usual Disney machine. I can almost imagine this on stage within the next couple of years. The script is well written, doesn’t patronise and is genuinely funny throughout without falling back on repetition or gimmicks. The outcome is heartfelt and the result is surprisingly satisfying.

The name change from Rapunzel to Tangled has been seen by some as a cheap marketing ploy but the fact of the matter is this story has something for everyone and after The Princess and The Frog, whats wrong with ensuring the boys aren’t put off by the title. After all, it was one of Quentin Tarantino‘s favourite movies of 2010!

The main plus point Tangled has in its corner is that there are no big names voicing any of the characters. The reliance on big names to carry animated films these days is that you invariably picture the actor whilst watching the movie. No matter how hard it is, I still picture Tom Hanks whilst watching Toy Story. This isn’t the case here. Whilst Mandy Moore has a profile, she isn’t an overbearing personality that hampers the film. You get to enjoy the film without distractions. Added to which, it’s great to have a truly family orientated film out at a time when family films are desperately needed.

A triumph for Disney’s half century and one of their best.

The trailer for Tangled is here.

Christopher Nolan

Every generation, a director comes along that is so visionary, so passionate about their craft and so focused on their audience that they make you want to queue for miles to see their latest film. Christopher Nolan is one such director. Which begs a question: What were the academy thinking leaving him off their list of Best Director (Inception) nominations yesterday!?

Nolan feels like a director who has been around for years churning out material left right and centre. He has in fact only directed seven full length features with one (The Dark Knight Rises) on the way. So what is it about his films?

His début, Following was the first sign that his vision for cinema put the audience at the centre of the action and wanted them to have an intelligent, suspenseful journey that would stay with them long after the film was over. His atmospheric, dark and chilling tale was such an indication.

After Following came two further notches in the psychological thriller genre: the brilliant Memento and the highly underrated Insomnia. Both films manipulated our perception of story telling and trusted us as an audience to put the pieces together ourselves. This may sound like an obvious outcome for a director to follow but all too often you are served up everything on a plate and either given nothing to think about or invest in or you have the wool pulled over your eyes and are given a visual feast with little content (sound familiar Mr. James Cameron?).

With a penchant for dark, psychological treats, Hollywood bosses entrusted Nolan with a franchise. A brave choice for a director with such an personal stamp (Bryan Singer is unlikely to recover from the horrendous Superman Returns) but he took Batman, ran with it and has reinvented the graphic novel/comic book adaptation. The integrity with which he approaches casting (the brilliant Cristian Bale replaced George Clooney. Villians were played by actors such as Heath Ledger, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy rather than Arnold Schwarzenegger, Uma Thurman, Jim Carrey), the time he takes on his projects to make sure the look and tone is right and the hands-on approach he has to writing all show his total commitment to a project.

Whilst The Prestige didn’t set the box office alight, he maintained his commitment to ensuring the audience had a complete experience and the puzzle, albeit a theatrical device, was on the audience had to unravel.

Which brings us up to date with Inception. So much has already been said about this film that to repeat its praise would take up more net space than is available. His reinvention of intelligent, thrilling, visual cinema without the reliance on stupid glasses goes without saying. This being the case, how on earth did the academy feel the ned to overlook Nolan come Oscar day?

Are they spreading the joy? Give Nolan the Best Original Screenplay nod thus paving the way for The Social Network - to win Best Film and Director? Colin Firth has sewn up the Actor Category, Natalie Portman will score Best Actress, Toy Story 3 will get Best Animation etc….

It appears 2011 will be the year of spreading the wealth whilst giving the film about the American Dream (an outsider builds an empire) the top two nods. I hope I’m wrong – The Social Network is a good film and Sorkin deserves the Adapted Screenplay nod but it is not a GREAT film. Inception is. And should win Best Film. However the argument is fruitless when it comes to Director. Nolan is not there. He should be. And he should have won.

 

 

Oscar Nominations 2011

So, here we are, award season full steam ahead and the Daddy of the award nominations have been announced.

As always, there is a mad last minute scramble for votes and this year has been no exception. The leader of the pack is the majestic The King’s Speech. This is despite the last minute smear campaign claiming George VI was a Nazi sympathiser and all voters should send their vote elsewhere. As usual, Americans are liberal with their knowledge of history and forgetting that it was his brother but oh…we can’t darken his name because he gave it all up for one of us. Sorry. Just had to remove that bee from my bonnet.

The major surprise is the omission of Christopher Nolan from the Best Director list. This is a major shock as it was one of 2010 runaway hits and without putting another bee back in my bonnet, didn’t James Cameron get nominated for Smurfs In Space? This may suggest an Original Screenplay nod for Nolan seeing as Aaron Sorkin has all but sewn up the Adapted Screenplay category.

The actor/actress category is almost certain. Firth WILL win (despite last minute James Franco buzz). Natalie Portman will probably win unless Annette Bening finally wins. (Meryl Streep has got the nominations but no wins department all to herself.) On a personal note, it’s great seeing the fabulous Jackie Weaver nominated for the Australian film Animal Kingdom.

All of that said, here are the nominations, what will win and what should win:

Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

WHAT WILL WIN: THE SOCIAL NETWORK

WHAT SHOULD WIN: THE KING’S SPEECH

Best Director
David O. Russell – The Fighter
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
David Fincher – The Social Network
Joel And Ethan Coen – True Grit
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan

WHO WILL WIN: DAVID FINCHER

WHO SHOULD WIN: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN (Robbed!)

Best Actress
Natalie Portman  – Black Swan
Annette Bening  – The Kids Are All Right
Jennifer Lawrence  – Winter’s Bone
Michelle Williams  – Blue Valentine
Nicole Kidman  – Rabbit Hole

WHO WILL WIN: NATALIE PORTMAN

WHO SHOULD WIN: NATALIE PORTMAN / ANNETTE BENING

Best Actor
Javier Bardem – Biutiful
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
James Franco – 127 Hours

WHO WILL WIN: COLIN FIRTH

WHO SHOULD WIN: COLIN FIRTH

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo – The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

WHO WILL WIN: HELENA BONHAM CARTER

WHO SHOULD WIN: HELENA BONHAM CARTER (although Jackie Weaver is awesome!)

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale  – The Fighter
John Hawkes  – Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner  – The Town
Geoffrey Rush  – The King’s Speech
Mark Ruffalo  – The Kids Are All Right

WHO WILL WIN: CHRISTIAN BALE

WHO SHOULD WIN: GEOFFREY RUSH

Best Original Screenplay
Another Year – Mike Leigh
The Fighter – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington
Inception – Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech – David Seidler

WHO WILL WIN: INCEPTION

WHO SHOULD WIN: INCEPTION

Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours -  Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 – Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
True Grit – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone – Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

WHO WILL WIN: AARON SORKIN

WHO SHOULD WIN: AARON SORKIN

Best Animated Film
Toy Story 3
The Illusionist
How To Train Your Dragon

WHO WILL WIN: TOY STORY 3

WHO SHOULD WIN: TOY STORY 3

Best Foreign Film
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dog Tooth (Greece)
In A Better World (Denmark)
Incendies (Canada)
Outside the Law (Algeria)

Best Score
How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
Inception – Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech – Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours – A.R. Rahman
The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

WHO WILL WIN: HANS ZIMMER

WHO SHOULD WIN: HANS ZIMMER

Best Song
Coming Home from Country Strong – Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
I See the Light from Tangled – Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
If I Rise from 127 Hours – Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 – Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Cinematography
Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
Inception – Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech – Danny Cohen
The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit – Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood
I Am Love – Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech – Jenny Beavan
The Tempest – Sandy Powell
True Grit – Mary Zophres

Best Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland – Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
Inception – Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
The King’s Speech – Eve Stewart , Judy Farr
True Grit – Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

Best Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland –Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian
Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter – Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 – Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Best Sound Editing
Inception – Richard King
Toy Story 3 – Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy – Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit – Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable – Mark P. Stoeckinger

Best Sound Mixing
Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Documentary Feature
Exit through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Best Live Action Short Film
The Confession
The Crush
God Of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

Best Animated Short Film
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar

Best Documentary Short Subject
Killing In The Name
Poster Girl
Strangers
Sun Comes Up
The Warriors Of Qiugang

Best Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Best Make-up
Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman