Blu-ray Review - The Silent House (2010)

The Silent House, 2010.

Directed by Gustavo Hernández.
Starring Florencia Colucci, Abel Tripaldi, María Salazar and Gustavo Alonso.


SYNOPSIS:

A young woman and her father begin work on renovating a sleepy country cottage, which hides a dark secret.


Whatever happened to traditional ghost stories set in creepy old houses? Modern horror has become a competition between filmmakers to outdo each other’s gore or to find the latest and cheapest gimmicky trick (think Paranormal Activity). Rarely do we get creaky doors teasingly opening wide into dusty rooms frozen in troubled times. Rarely are the scares psychological, preying on childhood fears of monsters under the bed and the empty house that sighs forlornly from somewhere in its darkened depths at the end of the street. Rarely do bold, genius storytellers emerge from the ranks of horror directors these days.

Director Gustavo Hernandez is certainly brave. His chiller, The Silent House, is based upon an unsolved murder case in 1940s Uruguay. It is set within a seemingly picturesque, isolated and derelict house in secluded woodland. It is also filmed in one continuous take.

The effects of this are engrossing. The ambitious and meticulous technique works especially well for horror and has a surprising versatility. The camera essentially becomes a character. At first we feel like main character Laura’s imaginary friend, bobbing along behind her as she looks round the outside of the pretty house and listening in absentmindedly on the conversation between her father and the owner of the house, Nestor. Then later on, whilst still feeling tethered to Laura’s experience, we take up different positions and hiding places. Consequently we see things she cannot. And she sees, and does, things that we miss altogether.

Laura and her father are supposed to be clearing up the messy house filled with accumulated junk. They decide to sleep in the living room on armchairs and make a start in the morning. The owner Nestor has promised to return with food at some point. Laura does not drift off however. She is too distracted by the pounding noises from upstairs. She eventually convinces her father to investigate and then the nightmare begins.

Light and sound are always integral to successful horror. Here the atmospheric lighting is achieved through candles and electric lanterns mostly. One scene however, in which Laura picks up a camera when the lights go out, is comprised of glimpses of the horror via the flashes of the Polaroid. This was impressive, immersive and shocking. The sound effects are vital to the endless suspense, with the score also eerily winding up the tension to unbearable levels.

The Silent House is an amalgamation of old fashioned scares and modern frights. The setting is full of strange objects, antiques and family heirlooms cluttering the rooms. Multiple doorways leave hiding places everywhere. Later in the story though the scares become nastier, more brutal and unsettling, resembling the darker trend of recent horror flicks. The dialogue is minimal, so we never learn much about Laura. We simply share some of her experience. The shocks and surprises catch you off guard and the twist at the end comes out of the blue.

For cynical viewers, there are of course the usual annoyances of the genre. Why does Laura choose the moments after a vicious attack to become fascinated by bits of junk? Why does she minutely examine paintings and photos when she knows someone is lurking beyond the door? Why does she return to the house after escaping in a wave of fear? Why does no one contact the authorities?

The incredible suspense and the plots holes in this film really got me thinking about the ordeal of the psychopath perpetrating the horror, as well as the victims. At one point (minor spoiler) a body is moved to be propped up in a chair with a doll. How embarrassing would it be to be caught moving the body? The attackers in these films, who are determined to taunt their victims, must be as nervous and jumpy as the audience as they set up their disturbing scenarios in the shadows.

The genuine ambush of the twist at the end explains a lot of these holes and weaknesses, which would be left glaringly and irritatingly untouched by your average horror. The Silent House is far from average though. It is rightly hailed as a “technical tour de force” by The Guardian and its trailers can justifiably claim to offer “real fear in real time”. By avoiding the sometimes messy and often over the top cuts of most modern fright fests, and adopting a refreshing perspective on events, this film really drops you right into the action.

The Silent House is out on DVD and Blu-Ray on the 1st of August. Go for the Blu-Ray version if you really want to appreciate the achievements of the filmmakers, in particular the lighting effects. Also keep an eye out for the Hollywood remake, which is already showing on the festival circuit.

Liam Trim (follow me on Twitter)

Movie Review Archive

For the Love of Trailers - General Orders No. 9, Take Shelter and War Horse

What to look forward to (or not) as Louise-Afzal Faerkel casts her eye over the trailers for the upcoming releases General Orders No. 9, Take Shelter and War Horse...

So I am back. And although it has been over a month, there does not seem to be a whole lot of interesting trailers out there. It's been tough going through so many, when so few where worth talking about. But I will go with what I have – both good and bad.

GENERAL ORDERS NO. 9

Directed by Robert Persons.
Starring William Davidson.

The trailer for General Orders No. 9 is very well-made. It is a visually stunning piece of great cinematography, coupled with a stunning soundtrack and an abundance of review quotes to make you feel all giddy inside. The only trouble is the voice over.

After a few viewings, I realised that I would stop listening to the narration altogether about 20-30 seconds in. The voice over practically disappears to me as I watch; or rather, it gets cancelled out due to the weight of the rest of this overwhelming trailer. If you do try to pay attention (it is hard, trust me) it is never clear what is meant by the words uttered, nor does it describe a clear plot – leading the viewer to believe it could be a documentary. And that is about all we can say for sure, other than it being a perhaps pessimistic, apocalyptic film.

It looks like a breathtaking piece, but it takes a while for the viewer to fully understand this, for however beautiful the trailer may look, there is also a request to focus on the voice talking over the images.

It is the kind of trailer that teases, rather than excites. The soundtrack provides a mystical undertone and plays with the audience so that they may research the film and gain interest, rather than be spoon-fed information about it. This makes for a trailer that really knows its audience, but perhaps limits itself too much. It could stand some loosening up, or at least a second, more mainstream-friendly version. It would be interesting to see if the distributors could pull that off.

Although this is a simple trailer composition, the visual and audio are both so strong they nearly cancel each other out, making it difficult for the viewer to watch and fully take in. There is furthermore a music video quality to the trailer, which could be misrepresenting the film (not misleading) but could also be why it is so good. 8/10.


TAKE SHELTER

Directed by Jeff Nichols.
Starring Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain and Shea Whigham.

Upon first viewing the trailer for Take Shelter, I was surprised the trailer to such a complex-looking film (for lack of a better and more precise description) would have such a Hollywood-esque structure.

However, the more I watch it, the more different ways I see it. It is a piece that demands full attention and some time from the audience to really grab their attention, requiring more than one quick view. It’s a hard but enjoyable watch. And I say this, for it has a lot to offer and various elements in the trailer make for a strong edit that excites and titillates.

The introduction is spot on: not too long, poignant and well-edited. The supporting character comments the main character on the quality of his life, while said main character is watching a threatening tornado approach with disturbing curiosity rather than fear. A perhaps obvious marriage of audio and video for a solid first five seconds, but they work.

Overall, there is a nice progression of events, a good build-up, an excellent choice of music, a steady pace. As always, I will moan a bit about the use of quotes, as I do not think they are ever necessary – this is valid even more so for this trailer. Everything stands so strongly on its own.
And yet, part of me realises that they are not nearly as disturbing as in other similar trailers. They almost blend into the shots they are placed over; the fonts used are subtle and the quotes themselves are without the usual frown-inducing star ratings, industry buzz words and exclamation marks (bar one or two exceptions). They will appeal to a global audience as a result, without getting too much hatred from the likes of your truly.

The montage at the end is chilling, but not over-the-top and brain-meltingly intense. Many of the classical Hollywood elements are present but they are used well, deserving a whole 10/10.


WAR HORSE

Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Starring Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston and David Thewlis.

Sometimes, some things are so appalling and grotesque they do not deserve the time of day. Other times, similar awful things are worth writing novels about, because they are indeed so awful – there is a need to rant about them and their ugliness. I am not sure which one of these categories the trailer for War Horse truly belongs in.

There is a very odd, almost unconventional, approach to this trailer. It starts off with the shot of a lone horse running through a battlefield as bullets fly around it and fires burn; leading into a single, long, spaced out quote by an old man. Insert graphics: “A film by Steven Spielberg”. And then – nothing.

Not quite “nothing”, obviously. A lot less than anticipated, yes, in the sense there are no sound effects whatsoever (stingy, much?) and no gripping shots to talk of. The editor has definitely tried to compile a long sequence of various shots that on the page sounds thrilling and moving when cut together, but this is what one would call an “epic fail”. The trailer making conventions used here are 20-odd years old and have no charm whatsoever. If feels like all efforts have been put into conveying a nostalgic, heart-felt, moving trailer, but it falls flat and feels dated and empty.

This is how an emotional trailer should NOT be made. It is dull, flat, powerless. The fades between shots are disgusting; the music all-too-familiar (we get it, John Williams).

The worst bit is, I am not 100% sure who this is being sold to? Oscar contenders used to look like this. Is it a kids film? Maybe. Who is this movie for? Those who remember the Great War? I am genuinely puzzled. It is an awful piece of editing, with the endless dissolves, close-ups of gasping faces and tracking shots of cute English villages. Is this what the masses want?

Save me from the atrociousness. 1/10.


Louise-Afzal Faerkel

365 Days, 100 Films #31 - Frankenstein (1931)

Frankenstein, 1931.

Directed by James Whale.
Starring Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff.


SYNOPSIS:

An obsessed scientist creates a living creature from parts of exhumed corpses.


The original Frankenstein had been on my To-Watch list ever since seeing A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss last Halloween. Films this old (it was released in 1931) can often be laborious. You come away saying you liked it because decades of critical praise burden your own opinion. Cinema was naïve back then - it had only learnt to speak four years prior. You find yourself letting these early films off for their technical faults and over embellished acting, like a child’s crayon drawing magnetised to the fridge door. Frankenstein, if you really give yourself to it, knocks you off that perch. Their equipment might have been limited, but their ambition and innovation was not. Look how grand the sets are. Fritz, doubled-over by his hunched limp, is made even shorter in the tall interior of Frankenstein’s windmill laboratory.

The story is well known. Frankenstein has left University to pursue his ethically dubious experiments in electro-biology. He wants to create life using science. Frankenstein and his assistant Fritz steel corpses to build a body in which to host this new consciousness. The opening scene is of a sombre burial on top of a hill. The camera pans round the weeping faces as the coffin is lowered into the earth. Frankenstein is hiding behind a bush, his face excited and manic in contrast to the aggrieved. With the mourners having long left, and the deceased sleeping six feet below ground, Frankenstein and Fritz pounce upon the grave with shovels. Frankenstein digs so eagerly and carelessly that the dirt he flings behind him hits the face of Death’s statue, for he no longer respects the Grim Reaper.

Frankenstein’s fiancé and best friend worry about him. He has refused their company for six weeks now, so, one stormy night, they demand entry to the dark windmill in which he resides. They become an audience for Frankenstein’s God-like performance. The body that he has created with his own hands, “these hands”, lies on the table before them. The stitching around the monster’s wrist is crude, and the camera never stays on it long enough. Like a freak show, you want to keep staring at the subject’s grotesque body, even though their appearance is sickening. That the monster’s face is hidden in bandages only makes the curiosity fiercer.

Frankenstein has discovered a light ray higher in the spectrum than ultra violet, and it has the power to give life, which the complex machinery around the room filters. The monster is hoisted up a great height to be exposed to the night’s thundery sky. Special effects had to be done for real in those days. The set must be about thirty feet high.

So the lightening strikes and the machines whizz and bang. The monster is lowered down back to the others. And there it is, the shot of the monster’s wavering fingers. “It’s alive,” screams Frankenstein in orgasm, “it’s aliiive!”

If you really let yourself get absorbed into the film, the monster’s first full-body appearance shortly after this is horrifying. He is shot in three quick close ups, each a little nearer to his face than the last. His eyes are heavy, his skin paper white. You start to wonder whether Frankenstein has created a new life, as he claims, or if he has brought the criminal to whom the monster’s brain previously belonged back into the living, ripping him from whatever otherworldly plain would have him. There’s a moment when Frankenstein first exposes his creation to sunlight. The monster is overcome, moaning as if in tongues and striving to be closer to its source. Does he mistake it for a heaven, a bright light to which he so desperately wants to return?

And this is why Frankenstein’s monster is such an enduring figure in popular culture. There’s so much sympathy to be felt for this abomination. It’s not his fault he’s here. He behaves like a retarded, abnormally strong child, clapping his hands when excited and lashing out violently at that which frightens him. Fritz constantly torments the monster with a fiery torch. He does so with glee, probably overjoyed that there is now someone dumber and more disabled than him. The monster lashes out because he knows no better. When Frankenstein hears Fritz’s cries, he rushes to the basement where the monster is kept. The room is shot from the doorway so you can only just make out the shadowy figure of Fritz hanging from the ceiling by his neck, swinging in and out of the camera’s view.

They kill the monster for this. Well, they think they’ve killed the monster. Frankenstein leaves the windmill, shaken, and starts preparing for his marriage with Elizabeth (Mae Clarke). But the monster breaks free and wonders clumsily around the woods nearby. He comes across a young girl by a lake. She takes him by the hand so they can play together. She shows the monster that if you throw a dandelion’s head into the water, it floats like a boat. The monster has a go and is ecstatic, but he clutches the objects all wrong. Those aren’t his hands. This isn’t his body. He does it again, clapping manically at the floating flower. But there are now no longer any dandelions left to sail, so he picks up the girl and throws her into the lake. There’s no malice in him, but he kills that poor child. He’s a monster. He has no way to relate.

Later, the town is wild with celebration. People are dancing and drinking for Frankenstein’s wedding. As they do, the girl’s father walks down the street with her soggy corpse in his arms. People don’t realise at first, and they stutter when the reality dawns. The music continues joyous until the father reaches Frankenstein’s door. It’s a haunting juxtaposition, and one that sparks the definitive mob of cinema into action.

You feel horror towards the monster, but never blame. How could you? He is a creation, an experiment gone awry. As the mob close on the monster near the end, trapping him in a burning, wooden windmill, you feel disgust at their bullying mentality. Only their suits and hats separate them from savages. And all the while, the monster stumbles frightened between rooms, shouting in fear at the flames in which he is ensnared. Blame, and shame, is most definitely with Doctor Frankenstein.

RATING ****

Oli Davis

365 Days, 100 Films

Movie Review Archive

Page and Screen – A Dangerous Method trailer shows the pitfalls and pluses of adapting non-fiction

Liam Trim discusses David Cronenberg's upcoming non-fiction adaptation, A Dangerous Method...

As cinemagoers and telly watchers we are used to accomplished adaptations of fictions born on the page. Whether it’s the BBC’s latest Jane Austen costume drama or blockbusters like the Harry Potter series, we consume creations transformed from the page to the screen all the time. We are also accustomed to the fictionalisation and cinematic imaginings of happenings from history, with one of film’s latest trends being the increasing use of exciting events from the recent past. The likes of The Social Network and 127 Hours brought books about modern, real lives to the big screen.

But we are less used to films based on academic and extensively researched works of non-fiction. There is of course the occasional box office hit based on a lucky scholar’s lengthy biography or surprisingly successful history. However it’s rare for such books to be huge hits in print via Amazon, Waterstones or WH Smith, let alone dominate in theatres. It normally takes a strong following of the book to persuade producers that the appetite is there for a lucrative movie. Or a particularly juicy subject matter, ripe for controversial or intriguing expansion and exploration.

In the case of A Most Dangerous Method by John Kerr there is certainly the potential for controversy. His book, released in the early 1990s and based on new evidence, charts the relationship between commonly recognised pioneers of psychoanalysis, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, which is controversial enough in itself. But its way into the world of intellectual competition and mental instability is the papers of Sabina Spielrein. She was a Russian patient of Jung’s, taken to a clinic in Zurich in 1904 at the age of 18. Her habits included “ill concealed masturbation”. And she and Jung had an affair.

As if that were not a sufficiently saucy and shocking cocktail, the nature of the affair remains scandalous even now. Jung was trying to drive forward a new profession and ensure its respect as a science and as a medical treatment. And yet he had an affair with one of his patients. An affair directly linked to his treatment and his probing of her condition. She was beaten as a child by her father and this sexually excited her. It doesn’t take much to imagine what she and Jung got up to. Sadomasochism enters the mix.

An official trailer for A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg’s adaptation of Christopher Hampton’s play, The Talking Cure (which was based on Kerr’s original book), is now online. You can watch it here:


It stars Cronenberg’s usual partner in crime Viggo Mortensen as Freud, Michael Fassbender as Jung and Keira Knightley as Spielrein. Disappointingly for fans of Cronenberg and Mortensen’s previous collaborations, the story appears to focus on Jung, with Freud relegated to a secondary figure. The weight of the narrative therefore falls on rising star Fassbender, who also stars in a new Jane Eyre adaptation out later this year, and his chemistry with Knightley. Disappointingly for fans of history and good storytelling, Knightley’s role, from the trailer at least, appears to be that of kinky sex slave.

Even the slightest research into Kerr’s original work uncovers just how fascinating a story, a true story, he set out to tell. Spielrein was treated by Jung and she had some kind of sexual affair with him, although it may never have been consummated. She went onto graduate as a doctor and pursued her own career in psychoanalysis, playing a key role in bringing its breakthroughs back to Russia. She was treated by Freud but always remained attached to Jung.

Not only did Kerr tell this remarkable story with “verve devices” of storytelling and “scholarly precisions”, according a 1994 review in The Independent, but his book had a serious point. Aside from being part of a tantalising love triangle complicated by genius and a battle for the soul of a groundbreaking science, Sabina Spielrein sheds light on who was the more influential man; Jung or Freud. Kerr argues that Freud’s thinking was of its time and not revolutionary. In any case many of Freud’s and Jung’s ideas are recognised as plain wrong and outdated today but if one was more important in laying the true foundations of psychoanalysis, Kerr argues it was Jung. He helped create Freud’s reputation and was the “engine” of the profession’s growth.

Of course this is just Kerr’s opinion but it is backed by thorough research and is genuinely interesting. The trailer for A Dangerous Method focused on psychoanalysis for its first 40 seconds, before throwing Knightley into the mix as over the top, loony eye candy for Fassbender to drool over. The dialogue, from Fassbender, Knightley and Vincent Cassel, becomes shamelessly erotic; “never repress anything”/”I want you to punish me”/” why should we put so much effort into suppressing our most basic natural instincts”. Surely Cronenberg hasn’t wasted his time on soft porn with period detail?

Probably not. It’s probably just the marketing approach of the trailer. And there are positives and great potential to be found within its brief runtime. The focus on Jung suggests that the general intellectual thrust of Kerr’s book, that Jung was more instrumental than Freud, will remain (although Mortensen does seem to be portrayed as an infrequent but superior wise figure). Cronenberg is hardly known for costumed drama and after the hard hitting A History of Violence and Eastern Promises, we can expect something knew from him in this genre. There is also little wrong with well acted desire and I’m sure the full performances won’t disappoint.

The fact remains though that those behind the trailer for A Dangerous Method are following that age old principle of advertising; sex sells. The prospect of charismatic and fit X-Men star Fassbender having forbidden romps with a kinky and crazy Keira Knightley will interest millions, whilst Jung’s professional friendship and battles with Freud will lure considerably less. There is nothing wrong with humanising great figures from the past; it’s what great stories do and it can bring fact to life. But there is something wrong with completely destroying the intentions of a source born of one writer’s hard work. Even if the final film tells Sabina Spielrein’s full story and is truer to Kerr’s revisionist study, it will have sold some sensational half truths to tempt people to see it.

Liam Trim (follow me on Twitter)

Hot Rods & Droids: A George Lucas Profile (Part 4)

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of legendary filmmaker George Lucas in the fourth of a six part feature... read parts one, two and three.

For over a decade filmmaker George Lucas had been developing a project which was a gender reversal of the Biblical story about Moses being hidden as a baby in the bulrushes. When asked to describe Willow (1988), Lucas called it “an adventure fantasy that takes place a long time ago in a mythical land.” Cast as the title character who becomes the guardian and defender of the wayward baby from an evil sorceress was Warwick Davis who made a name for himself playing the Ewok known as Wicket. “I was on holiday in southwest England when I got a call from George to come to Elstree – one of the major British studios – and audition for the part,” remembers Davis. “Actually, I did four auditions altogether; three in England and one in America.” The actor was competing against a lot of familiar faces. “There’s not all that much work for short people. Many of us worked for George as Ewoks in Return of the Jedi [1983]. So we knew each other. To this day I still run into blokes who say, ‘You know, I tried out for that bloody party!’”

Given the responsibility to helm Willow was an actor turned director to whom George Lucas has a working relationship comparable to the one he has with Steven Spielberg (War Horse). “The only other person I’m that close to aesthetically is Ron Howard,” stated the native of Modesto, California. “With those two, we can almost finish each other’s sentences. Francis [Ford Coppola] and I are great friends, but creatively we see things very differently.” Even though he was present during the principle photography, the partnership between the two men was an amiable one. “George let Ron direct the picture,” remarked Warwick Davis, “but he was there to help when asked. He had Willow’s entire world swirling around in his head, and he could answer any question posed by the script. Also, he was accustomed to working with special effects, and he had certain shots in mind. I believe he directed some action sequences shot by the second unit too.”

Starring in the $36 million production are Val Kilmer (Tombstone), Joanne Whaley (Scandal), Warwick Davis, Jean Marsh (Frenzy), Patricia Hayes (A Fish Called Wanda), Billy Barty (Legend), Pat Roach (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Gavan O’Herlihy (Never Say Never Again), Rick Overton (The Informant!) and Kevin Pollack (The Usual Suspects). Chosen to play the role of the warrior Madmartigan who assists Willow on his quest was Val Kilmer. “Well Val came in to read,” stated Warwick Davis, “he looked rather scruffy – open-toed sandals, long hair, baggy shirt, that sort of thing. He certainly had the quality George was looking for. [You] could tell that as soon as he read the lines.” The cinematic performance of Kilmer was influenced by one of his co-stars. “While on location,” explained Davis, “Joanne [Whalley] was to be staying in a hotel room next to mine. Val, as part of his contract, was given a nice little house in which to live. As shooting progressed, she spent less time in her room and more time in his house, so everybody knew they were getting on. In fact, Ron actually reshot some of the scenes they had together. The sexual chemistry between them was so much stronger as we got further along, and he thought it would punch up those scenes if he redid them. He was right. The new stuff was better.”

“It certainly was a very physical movie,” admitted Warwick Davis. “We had to shoot around some very cold, snowy weather. We were transporting cast, crew, and equipment by helicopter. Do you recall that scene which takes place at the crossroads? We shot that one in below-freezing temperatures. I also had to do quite a lot of running, which is difficult for me. Painful too, after a while. And I didn’t enjoy spending so much time on the horse. I’m rather afraid of them to begin with, and the one I rode in the film was a particularly stubborn beast. It was hard to get him going, but once he got moving he didn’t want to stop!” Not all of the hard work appeared in the final product. “When [Willow] leaves for the island, he climbs into the boat bone-dry. There there’s a wipe, and he’s seen landing and climbing out, somewhat bedraggled and with wet hair. In between those two shots he’s caught in a violent storm, tossed overboard, and very nearly drowned after being attacked by a sea serpent of sorts. That bit took us a good two weeks to shoot. We did it in the huge water tanks at the Pinewood Studios, and I had tons of water dumped on me.” The actor was not the only one being tested creatively. Dennis Muren (Hulk), who served as the special effects supervisor, stated that the film was “an awful lot of work under the most difficult possible conditions, which is doing effects work in daylight instead of dark or nighttime. It’s three times harder. There was this two headed dragon at the end, and there were these Brownies [9-inch mischief makers portrayed by Kevin Pollack and Rick Overton] that had to be all over the place.” As for the transformation scene where a sorceress breaks the spell that has been cast upon her, Muren remarked, “George said he didn’t care what happened in between, but he knew the scene started with a goat and ended up with a woman.”

“At the Royal Film Premiere in London, I watched it while sitting next Prince Charles and Princess Diana,” remembered Warwick Davis. “That was a tremendous thrill for me. And then, of course, I did the media tour to promote the film. Being so widely recognized was nice. It’s still nice.” Willow grossed $57 million domestically and received Oscar nominations for Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects. At the Razzie Awards, the adventure fantasy contended for Worst Screenplay and Worst Supporting Actor (Billy Barty). “George had an idea for a sequel. But Willow was only moderately successful on that first go-around at the box office and I think there was some concern that the returns wouldn’t justify the cost of filming.”

“I thought it was the best project Francis had ever been involved in,” said George Lucas as to the biopic Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. “It’s about the life an entrepreneur and the fate of creativity in a modern, financially oriented America.” Coppola could relate to the struggles of Preston Tucker who “developed plans for a car way ahead of its time in terms of engineering; yet the auto industry at large stubbornly resisted his innovative ideas.” The project floundered until Lucas intervened and secured the necessary financing. “No studio in town would touch it; they all said it was too expensive,” stated Lucas. “They all wanted $15 million Three Men and a Baby [1987] movies or Crocodile Dundee, Part 73 sequels.” However, the filmmaker could understand the reluctance of the Hollywood studios to get involved with the $24 million production. “Francis can get so esoteric it can be hard for an audience to relate to him. He needs someone to pull him back. With The Godfather [1972], it was Mario Puzo; with Tucker, it was me.” Starring in the picture are Jeff Bridges (Blown Away), Martin Landau (Ed Wood), Joan Allen (The Bourne Supremacy), Frederic Forrest (The Two Jakes), Elias Koteas (Zodiac), Christian Slater (Broken Arrow), Nina Siemaszko (Jakob the Liar), Dean Stockwell (Married to the Mob), Lloyd Bridges (Airplane!) and Peter Donat (The Game).

“I wanted to make an uplifting experience that showed some of the problems of corporate America, and Francis didn’t resist,” said George Lucas whose cinematic vision did not entirely match with those of his colleague. “I’d lost some of my confidence,” revealed Francis Ford Coppola who had to financially reorganize his production company Zoetrope Studios. “I knew George had the marketing sense of what the people might want. He wanted to candy-apple it up a bit, make it a Disney film. He was at the height of his success and I was at the height of my failure.” Tucker: The Man and His Dream earned $20 million domestically and received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Martin Landau), Best Art Direction & Set Decoration and Best Costume Design; it also contended for Best Supporting Actor (Martin Landau) at the Golden Globes and was lauded with the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design. “I think it’s a good movie,” reflected Coppola. "It’s eccentric, a little wacky, like the Tucker car – but it’s not the movie I would have made at the height of my power.”

“Steve had an idea about baby dinosaurs and he wanted me to executive produce with him,” explained George Lucas about his involvement with The Land Before Time (1988) an animation project that was being developing by Steven Spielberg and former Disney animator Don Bluth (The Secret of NIMH). “Animation is a completely different process from live action,” observed producer Kathleen Kennedy (The Sixth Sense) “You formulate the script as you go through a certain amount of production. As the project begins to come to life, you have more ideas. It unlocks the door to imagination because you can do anything.” Kennedy viewed the film as having universal appeal. “The empowerment of children is a real central theme. Littlefoot is empowered. That’s the theme, basically, in E.T. [1982] as well. And the theme of abandonment runs through a lot of fairy tales. Bettleheim said the fear of abandonment is the universal primal fear of most children. When those themes are explored in movies, they conjure up real feelings, even in adults, though you may not understand why.” The animated tale had a dramatic impact on audience members. “One woman wrote us that she’d had a hard time trying to explain to her little girl about the death of her father. She found that Land Before Time allowed her to explain, in much the same way that I suppose Bambi [1942] can help.”

“Steven and I have very similar tastes so it’s very easy for us to work together,” remarked George Lucas who collaborated with Steven Spielberg on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). If we disagree about something we both instantly defer to the other, but 90 percent of the time we agree on everything. And half the time we don’t even have to talk about decisions.” Spielberg is equally complimentary about Lucas. “[George] is smarter than I am about a lot of stuff. George is a better storyteller than I am. He loves to collaborate, and he collaborated all the way with me on the Indy pictures. He was very much involved in the editing on all three. If I’m getting into a project with or without George, I’ll ask him to read the script, and I’ll say, ‘George, what do you think about this? What am I getting myself into?’ He’s my most generous friend.” The director of the third installment of the Indiana Jones franchise amusingly adds, “We think so much alike that there were rumours that we were the same person. At a science fiction convention somebody said that we were never seen in the same place at the same time. There was a rumour that we were one alien being, who could change form.”

“There’s a certain discipline that is established when you get into sequels,” stated Lucas. “It’s like a sonnet or haiku. There are things you’re obliged to do or you’re not doing what people want. I don’t like working with an established form. I prefer to roam around, creatively. But once you develop a certain style and genre, you have to be faithful to it. I think I took both those genres, the Star Wars and Indiana Jones pieces, much further than one would expect. But to go beyond that is very difficult.” Lucas proposed an idea of adapting a Chinese legend and placing the Monkey King in Africa. Locations were scouted as Christopher Columbus (Home Alone) wrote the script. “I salvaged the whole haunted-castle-in-Scotland idea because it wasn’t used in the second film. We took it and made it the opening of the third film – but it got kiboshed a second time. It really came down to the issue of the supernatural, with Steven and I going back and forth about how believable it would have to be. The Monkey King had a lot of supernatural powers. Finally we just gave up and started over again. It was a really good screenplay. It was just a little less realistic than what we were used to.”An older concept was revisited. “The Holy Grail had been an early idea as one of the artifacts,” said Lucas. "I think it was one of the original ideas around Temple of Doom [1984], but Steven didn’t like it. I brought it up before The Monkey King, but again he said, ‘I just don’t get it.’ I had given the Grail some supernatural powers – healing and the fountain-of-youth powers – and those ideas were put into The Monkey King scripts.” With the initial script by Menno Meyjes (Martian Child) considered to be unsatisfactory; a replacement screenwriter was recruited. “Jeff Boam had done two of the Lethal Weapon movies, and Steven had heard of him,” remarked George Lucas. “When he brought him up, I said, ‘Well, he sounds like a good one.’”

Starring in the $55 million action-adventure are Harrison Ford (Blade Runner), Sean Connery (The Untouchables), Denholm Elliott (Trading Places), Alison Doody (A View to Kill), John Rhys-Davies (The King Maker), River Phoenix (Stand by Me), and Julian Glover (For Your Eyes Only). The creator of the movie franchise had reservations about casting Sean Connery as the father of the swashbuckling professor of archeology as he “thought his presence would unbalance the movie,” as well his vision of the character was different. “I had imagined an older gentleman, kind of a crazy, eccentric guy…more of a British Laurence Oliver, Obi-Wan Kenobi type.” Connery had his doubts too. “Sean at first resisted the idea of playing my father, because he’s only 12 years older than I,” revealed Harrison Ford. “He also felt that the character was too thinly drawn. It turns out that Sean is a great student of history, so he brought a lot of ideas that were incorporated into his character. He ended up less Yoda-like than originally intended and became quite a match to his son, including the fact that we both had a physical relationship with the leading lady.” The altered father-son dynamics brought a much needed element to the tale. “We were able to twist that particular idea into something funny and make it humorous rather than serious,” said Lucas. “I thought it would be fun to open the film with Indy as a young man. Steven was a bit reluctant, but we explored the idea and he agreed it might give the story more depth.”

Having Henry Jones, Senior (Sean Connery) shot by the Nazi collaborator Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) was considered to be a risky decision. “It was a little tricky, and we were a little nervous about that aspect of the story,” admitted George Lucas. “It kept evolving, but it seemed very logical to connect it that way and have the extra pressure of Indy having to get the Grail in order to save his father.” When it came to the sequence of the underground tomb and an onslaught of fleeing rodents, Harrison Ford was well prepared. “Happily, rats don’t bother me very much,” said the actor. “When I was a teenager I was a nature counselor, and, coincidentally, I did have as pets black hooded rats.” Alison Doody, who plays the femme fatale Elsa Schneider, found the Venice action sequence to be an emotionally tense experience. “I’m running in high heels and my shoes are giving away at this stage,” said Doody. “They’re very wet and I’m jumping onto a wet boat – cannot tell you how scared I was.” Sean Connery was glad to be apart of the production. “Each film I’ve made has its own kind of place,” remarked Connery. “But there are certain films that have a better taste, a better experience and souvenir. Others would be better forgotten. Indiana Jones is up there with the best of the films.” Steven Spielberg enjoyed working with River Phoenix who later died tragically from a drug overdose. “He very seriously studied Harrison in all of his films, his vocal inflection and his physical style,” remembered Spielberg. “He made the part his own, but incorporated enough of Harrison that you could really see a young Indiana Jones underneath the Boy Scout uniform.”

“When I realized that the movie had become more of a chase movie,” stated Steven Spielberg, “I felt it needed more action. So we thought up a good scene with the motorcycle sidecar, which we filmed near San Francisco, in the Bay Area, near where George lives.” The sequence where Harrison Ford has to cross a gorge to obtain the Holy Grail was overseen by ILM visual effects supervisor Michael McAlister. “The leap-of-faith shot was probably the single most challenging concept in the movie,” said McAlister. “Nobody knew how to do it. It was a combination of matte painting with a miniature set of the physical bridge. But the bridge blended into the background and was essentially invisible – then as soon as the camera would slide off axis, the illusion was revealed.” George Lucas was pleased with the creative individuals working behind the scenes. “We had an extraordinary talented group of people,” enthused Lucas. “From Dougie [Slocombe] in the camera crew, Ben Burtt in sound effects, to the art department. Michael Kahn is one of the most brilliant editors around, and obviously Johnny Williams. It goes on and on. And it’s always a thrill to see Harrison in that outfit. He becomes that character. You walk on the set and there he is. It’s such an iconic image.” Movie audiences were also happy to see Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones as the action-adventure grossed $474 million worldwide; it won Best Sound Effects Editing at the Oscars and received nominations for Best Original Score and Best Sound. At the BAFTAs, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade competed for Best Supporting Actor (Sean Connery), Best Sound and Best Special Effects. Sean Connery contended for Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes.

Lucasfilm delved into the world of television series production with Manic Mansion (Family Chanel, 1990) and the Emmy-winning The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (ABC, 1992 to 93). “We were working on an idea called A Walk Through Early Twentieth Century: History with Indiana Jones and it turned into a TV series,” explained George Lucas who was honoured with the Irving G. Thalberg Award at the 1992 Academy Awards. “It’s a series of ideas, as well as action. I think people need to be exposed to all kinds of information, hopefully in entertaining form, so they’ll have an opportunity to understand the large world of ideas.” The small screen show had big screen production values. “On the Young Indy TV series – which was a period show with horses, carriages, completely different landscapes, and costumes – we had exactly the same kinds of production values as The Age of Innocence but we did it for 10 percent of the cost, thanks to digital technology. We used the computer to make crowd scenes, when we only had a handful of actors, and to replicate backgrounds that weren’t really there.” The one hour episodes were helmed by the likes of Terry Jones (Monty Python’s Life of Brian), Nicolas Roeg (Walkabout), Deepa Mehta (Water), and Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror) while screenwriters included Carrie Fisher (Postcards from the Edge), Jonathan Hensleigh (Kill the Irishman), and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption). Corey Carrier (Nixon) plays Indy at age 9, Sean Patrick Flanery (The Boondock Saints) portrays him at age 16 and George Hall (Red) embodies the elderly title character. Among the guest actors are Harrison Ford, Catherine Zeta-Jones (Blue Juice), Daniel Craig (Cowboys & Aliens), Christopher Lee (Hugo Cabret), Timothy Spall (The Damned United), Jeffery Wright (Casino Royale), Elizabeth Hurley (Serving Sara), Vanessa Redgrave (Howards End), Ian McDiarmid (Restoration), Max von Sydow (Minority Report), Terry Jones (Erik the Viking), and Michael Gough (The Fourth Protocol). The 24 shows where Indy looks back on his adventures which started back in 1908 were shot in countries such as Britain, Kenya, and India. “I haven’t has so much fun working on anything since Raiders,” declared Lucas who, upon the cancellation of the television series, released four The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones TV movies.

With his special effects company Industrial Light & Magic developing breakthrough computer generated effects such as the alien water tentacle in The Abyss (1989) and the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993), George Lucas sold the computerized analogue non-linear editing system Editdroid to Avid Technology. “I am not focused on computers in my life, interestingly enough,” confessed Lucas. “I have a laptop and a Mac, but I’m not a computer person at all. I have computer scientists who work for me who are the best in the world.”

Completing the three picture deal he had signed with Universal to make his sophomore effort, George Lucas co-produced the black comedy mystery Radioland Murders (1994). “This project grew out of American Graffiti, which was another radio listener’s fantasy-themed movie,” explained Lucas. “We didn’t get a television until I was 10 years old, so many of my early years were spent sitting and listening to radio dramas. I liked being able to fill in the blanks with my imagination and hearing the story.” A writer who tries to solve a series of killings at a new radio network becomes the prime suspect. “It’s the kind of movie I like to make – it’s frantic and crazy and fun – but it’s difficult to get a movie like this made because it doesn’t fit in any of the categories the studios like. This is a really wacko, offbeat comedy, set in 1939 – and it doesn’t have any movie stars.” Cast in the $10 million picture are Brian Benben (Dark Angel), Mary Stuart Masterson (Fried Green Tomatoes), Scott Michael Campbell (Hart’s War), Michael Lerner (Barton Fink), Ned Beatty (Network), Brion James (The Fifth Element), Corbin Bensen (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Candy Clark (Blue Thunder), George Burns (Oh, God!), Bo Hopkins (Midnight Express), and Rosemary Clooney (Here Come the Girls).

“It was one of my favourite projects, but I just didn’t have any time to actually do it,” remarked George Lucas who recruited a director responsible for a movie he had enjoyed. “I liked The Tall Guy [1989]. I thought it was funny and in talking to Mel [Smith] he seemed to understand the material very well. As these things always are, it’s a matter of two minds coming together on an idea and agreeing on what should happen.” Over a 100 visual effects were used including computer generated sets. Lucas stated that Radioland Murders “was an experiment for us in that we applied the cost-saving technology we learned on bringing [The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles] TV series to the big screen.” Grossing $1 million domestically, the picture did not impress Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert who wrote, “The slapstick starts so soon and lasts for so long that we don’t have the opportunity to meet or care about the characters in a way that would make their actions funny.”

As he was drafting the scripts of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, George Lucas and Lucasfilm established the official Star Wars website in 1996. A year later the original films were rereleased theatrically as special editions featuring altered and additional scenes. Producer Gary Kurtz, who was involved with the making of the first two installments, was not so keen on the idea. “To go back years later and change them, I think was probably the wrong philosophy,” reflected Kurtz. “In the case of Star Wars [1977] it had to be restored anyway, because the negative was screwed up.”

With the pre-production commencing on the prequels, George Lucas decided to step behind the camera for the first time since 1977.

Continue to part five.

Visit the official sites of Lucasfilm and ILM.

For more on Star Wars head over to the official website, along with fansites TheForce.net and StarWarz.com, and for more on Indiana Jones check out IndyFan.com and TheRaider.net.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.

First trailer for Steven Spielberg's War Horse

Steven Spielberg looks set to have a busy second half to 2011, what with the arrival of the motion-capture animation The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn followed by the epic WWI drama War Horse, based on Michael Morpurgo's 1982 novel of the same name and its subsequent 2007 stage adaptation. Now I was already sold by the idea of Spielberg doing World War One but after watching the first trailer - released earlier today - I'm now all but convinced that this is going to be great.

War Horse stars Jeremy Irvine (Life Bites), Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement), Tom Hiddleston (Thor), David Thewlis (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), Emily Watson (Cemetery Junction), Toby Kebbell (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), Peter Mullan (Trainspotting), and Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes), and centres on a young man (Irvine) who heads to the war-ravaged trenches of France to save his horse, Joey, when the animal is sold off to the cavalry.

Take a look at the War Horse trailer...


War Horse hits North America cinemas on December 28th, 2011 and is released in the UK on January 13th, 2012. Next up for Spielberg is the Civil War tale Lincoln, along with an adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson's Robopocalypse.

King of the Park: Memorable Movie-Based Theme Park Attractions

As Fanta launch their brand new King of the Park social game application on Facebook, we look at five memorable movie-based theme park attractions…


Back to the Future: The Ride

Opening in Universal Studios Florida back in 1991, Back to the Future: The Ride was a motion simulator that served as a mini-sequel to Back to the Future Part III and saw Steven Spielberg serve as creative consultant with Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as Doc Brown. Now located at Universal Studios Japan.

Jaws

Another Steven Spielberg related spin-off, Universal Studios Florida spent $65m on its Jaws attraction, which takes guests on a tour around Amity Harbor only for their boat to come under attack by the fearsome great white. A near identical version opened at Universal Studios Japan in 2001.

Jurassic Park: The Ride

The final Spielberg-inspired attraction to make our list (nope, no place for E.T. Adventure here I'm afraid) is Jurassic Park: The Ride, which opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in 1996 and culminates with a near-vertical 85 feet drop as guests plunge into a tropical lagoon to escape the dreaded Tyrannosaurus Rex.

T2 3-D: Battle Across Time

A mini-sequel to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, T2 3D: Battle Across Time includes a twelve minute short directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong and Robert Patrick. Costing $60m to produce, T2 3D originally opened at Universal Studios Florida and has since spread to Universal's Hollywood and Japan parks.

Star Tours

Originally launched at Disneyland in 1987, the $32m Star Tours motion simulator takes its guests on a space tour to the forest moon of Endor, only to come under attack by an Imperial Star Destroyer ultimately find themselves involved in the attack on the Death Star. Star Tours closed in 2010 and was replaced earlier this year by Star Tours: The Adventure Continues, while the original still operates at Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland.

This post has been sponsored by Fanta’s ‘King of the Park’, a brand new Facebook game where you can create your own theme park, battle your mates in classic arcade games, sit back and have a chat and – best of all – be in with a chance of winning some brilliant prizes including a VIP trip to Gardaland Resort, Italy for you and three friends, along with one of fifty pairs of entry tickets to Alton Towers each week for eight weeks.


King of the Park…


Visit the site for more information here.

Pythons reunite for Graham Chapman film

Members of the classic comedy group Monty Python have lent their voices to a new 3D animated film based on the memoirs of the late Graham Chapman. A Liar’s Autobiography, published in 1980, was a deliberately fanciful account of his life and a taped reading by Chapman will be used, along with animation and added dialogue from the other Pythons. John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam will be voicing various roles. Eric Idle is currently the only member not to become involved, however the filmmakers are said to be “working on” getting him on board.

Produced and directed by Terry Jones’ son Bill Jones, along with Ben Timlett and Jeff Simpson, the film has 15 animation companies working on chapters that will range from three to 12 minutes in length, each in a different style to represent the different stages of Chapman’s life.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus ran for 46 episodes from 1969-1974 and the team then brought us a number of films (And Now For Something Completely Different, Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life) before going their separate ways. Graham Chapman died in 1989 at the age of 48. This new film is expected to be around 85 mins long and should be finished in time for release next spring in UK cinemas.

Bridesmaids snuffs out Green Lantern at the UK box office

UK box office top ten and analysis for the weekend of Friday 25th - Sunday 27th June 2011...

The Judd Apatow-produced comedy Bridesmaids takes top spot at the UK box office in its opening weekend, pulling in almost £1m more than Green Lantern's debut haul from last week to take the crown with £3,445,395. Meanwhile it was further bad news for Warner Bros.' expensive superhero flop, with the Ryan Reynolds-starrer falling to third with £1.1m behind DreamWorks Animation sequel Kung Fu Panda 2.

Moving further on in the chart, the Cameron Diaz comedy Bad Teacher slips one place to fourth and is the only other film in the chart to have reached the seven figure mark this past weekend. Meanwhile The Hangover Part II, X-Men: First Class, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Senna and Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules each fall one spot as a result of Bridesmaids' arrival, with fellow newcomer Double Dhamaal propping up the chart in tenth with £117,285.

Number one this time last year: Get Him to the Greek

Pos.	Film	Weekend Gross	Week	Total UK Gross
1	Bridesmaids	£3,445,395	1	£3,445,395
2	Kung Fu Panda 2	£1,532,459	3	£11,333,985
3	Green Lantern	£1,105,089	2	£4,722,208
4	Bad Teacher	£1,061,551	2	£4,357,776
5	The Hangover Part II	£801,784	5	£31,060,096
6	X-Men: First Class	£709,787	4	£13,699,384
7	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	£523,494	6	£31,930,483
8	Senna	£264,484	4	£2,539,970
9	Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules	£155,605	5	£4,877,957
10	Double Dhamaal	£117,285	1	£117,285

Incoming...

The third installment in Michael Bay's blockbuster Transformers series, Transformers: Dark of the Moon (cert. 12A), rolls into cinemas tomorrow and looks a dead cert to claim the box office crown. If giant robots aren't your thing then alternatives include the Tom Hanks / Julia Roberts rom-com Larry Crowne (cert. 12A) and Robert Redford's latest directorial effort, The Conspirator (cert. 12A), starring James McAvoy, Evan Rachel Wood and Robin Wright.

U.K. Box Office Archive

Five Essential... Nicolas Cage Films

Rohan Morbey selects his Five Essential Nicolas Cage Films…

Nicolas Cage is unlike any other leading man in Hollywood. His films choices are anything but ‘safe’ and he doesn’t choose the same predictable, boring characters time after time. His films are undeniably hit and miss, and his last few pictures have not done his talent any justice.

However, true Cage fans know he is much more than Season of the Witch, Bangkok Dangerous, and Next, and when he is on form, there is no other actor who can deliver the intensity, unpredictability, and passion he brings to a role.

Now a huge player in Hollywood, it took 13 years and 24 films before Cage became an A-list regular, commanding the big budgets and even bigger money with frequently collaboration with producer Jerry Bruckheimer. However, although only one of my choices are from 1995 onwards, his run of films from The Rock to World Trade Center (both narrowly missing out on this list) are as diverse and entertaining as anybody working in Hollywood today.

5. Raising Arizona (1987, dir. Joel Coen)

It represents Cage’s best comedic performance, as H.I McDunnough, the bumbling thief with a good heart who steals a baby when his wife can’t conceive. Cage has always been able to bring a sense of comedy to a lot of roles, even his action pictures, but here we see just how good he is a light comedy. Cage brings McDunnough to life in true Coen brothers fashion, and it remains one of their best films to date, too.







4. Red Rock West (1993, dir. John Dahl)

In my opinion, John Dahl’s small, no-frills neo-noir represents the best picture Cage made (aside from my #3 choice) in his pre-Oscar winning years. Although I must add Birdy comes mighty close to that honour as well.

Only a relatively small number of people have probably actually seen Red Rock West (and it’s no longer available on Region 2 DVD) but that almost adds to its charm. It is a small film, but with that comes a tight script, a femme fatale, a great villain, and a reluctant hero (Cage) all perfectly held together by the director which deserves it place on this list, and any list of neo-noir pictures.

Played mostly straight, but with some dark humour throughout, Cage plays a drifter who arrives in the small town of Red Rock and is mistaken for a hit-man. The plot gets complicated and, like any good noir, the lines between good and bad and blurred but it represented a new level in quality of production and script for Cage.


3. Wild at Heart (1990, dir. David Lynch)

Cage is kind of talent that seemed to be born to star in a David Lynch film. Both star and film maker do not conform to conventions and ‘normal’ performances or directing styles. This violent road and darkly comic film is no exception, and although it is one of Lynch’s more accessible stories, it still has all the trademarks of his work and is not for the faint of heart.

Cage excels here as Sailor, the Elvis obsessed protagonist. Not many other actors would sing ‘Love Me Tender’ and ‘Love Me’ with the straight face he does, whilst all the time remaining menacing and on the edge.

Wild At Heart shows Cage’s ability to create a dark, brooding character who is both erotic and passionate whilst prone to bursts of immense violence and rage. Not all actors could pull of both, but Cage shows it can be done, and at the same time.


2. Face/Off (1997, dir. John Woo)

Cage burst on to the action scene in 1995 with The Rock (still the only good film Michael Bay has directed, in my opinion) and followed up with the high-octane Con Air in 1997. But he completed his big budget, big box-office trilogy with my number 2 pick, Face/Off.

Back in ‘97 this film had all the ingredients to be one of the best action films of recent years, but it far exceed that. Released 14 years ago, it represents one of the last truly great pure action films made and is easily the best of director John Woo’s Hollywood entries.

Cage plays the bad guy, John Travolta plays the good guy. In these roles, Cage is having all the fun as the deliriously unhinged terrorist-for-hire Castor Troy. Then, in the second act, the actors switch roles, and it’s Travolta’s turn to have all the fun and one-liners. But Cage really gets to grips with the emotional challenge the FBI agent has brought upon himself by swapping faces with his sworn enemy. Amongst all the explosions and gun play, there lies a splendidly understated performance from Cage. Watch again the scene when he tells his wife the story of how they met to make her believe he is the man underneath the ‘mask’. It’s a brilliantly acted scene for such a ridiculous premise.

Of course where the film does excel is in its action set pieces. John Woo brought his ‘gun ballet’ from Hong Kong to America in 1993, but it wasn’t until Face/Off that audiences sat up and paid attention to just how good his style was. He had the right actors to do it for him as well, and this marks the best in ‘big budget Cage’. A slightly more accomplished film than the excellent The Rock, and cemented the star as one of Hollywood’s A-List.


1. Leaving Las Vegas (1995, dir. Mike Figgis)

This, more than any other film in his 30 year career, defines Nicolas Cage’s talent. Not his star power or his ability to rake in the money, but his true and outstanding talent.

The winner of Best Actor at the 1995 Academy Awards, Cage’s portrayal of Ben, an alcoholic who decides to go to Las Vegas to drink himself to death, is as good a performance from any actor in any film at any stage in film making.

This is a a bold statement, I know. But anyome who has seen the film knows this to be true. The performance was what had been bubbling away under the surface of Cage over the years, just waiting for the right script and film to let it shine. In doing so, Cage went from top strength to strength in terms of success and popularity, but he will probably never be as good again as he was here. That’s not a criticism on the actor, I would say it about any one else who delivered this performance, too.

It has to be the number one choice because it is his number one role, the role which will define him for the rest of his career. He deserved the role and the chance to make it big after all the hard work he put in from the beginning years as Nicolas Coppola. My only hope is he will return to such quality again, because talents like his are so rare in Hollywood now. He only has to choose the right film.

Agree? Disagree? We'd love to hear your thoughts...

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

Essentials Archive

More Star Wars on its way with a Lego Star Wars TV movie

Now, we may a bit late to the party with this one but it seems that the Star Wars franchise is showing little signs of slowing down with the recent news that an animated TV movie based on the popular Lego Star Wars video game series is heading to the small screen later this year. ComingSoon broke the news earlier this month when they spotted a promotional poster at the Licensing International Expo and the word is the TV movie will likely premiere in September, just in time to coincide with the release of Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray.

With the 35th anniversary of George Lucas' baby just around the corner, it seems that LucasFilm is doing everything in its considerable power to keep the billion-dollar franchise rolling over and this latest announcement will likely generate more heated debate over the continued 'milking' of the blockbuster saga.

Along with the TV movie and Blu-ray box-set, Lucas also has a 3D conversion of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace set for release in February 2012 (with potential conversions of the remaining episodes to follow), along with the ongoing Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, a second Clone Wars animated show developed by Robot Chicken's Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, and fifty hours of live-action TV scripts.

Phewww. That's a lot of Star Wars. Even for a fan like me.

Source: ComingSoon (via Joblo)

Review Blood: True Blood Recap 4.1 - 'She's Not There'

Sean Guard sinks his teeth into the latest episode of the popular US vampire series True Blood, 'She's Not There'...

So Sookie is a fairy or fae or whatever you want to call her. Just don’t call her unattractive because that she is still not. She gets a chance to visit what I call “Fairyland” or so she thought. Things quickly take a turn for the worse in a hurry when she is sought after by yet another group of supernatural beings. Her life just can’t be normal can it? She briefly reunites with her Grandfather (which to me was the most solemnly genuine character interaction of the episode) and returns home to discover that she has been away for an entire year. 12 and half months to be exact which only felt like 15 minutes to her. Her brother, Jason, has sold her house and become a full blown police officer. He seems to be all grown up.

Before we know it, the lead vamps of the series, Bill and Eric, both make their presence known to the Sook-ster. You can tell that although Bill has somewhat come to grips that his human soul mate no longer wants him, Sookie is obviously still quite in love with Mr. Compton. Lafayette’s boyfriend is trying to get him to dabble in the world of witchcraft. This leaves him and the rest of their new witchy circle of friends with a rather shocking enlightenment. This being having seen the dead raised in the form of a deceased parrot able to yet again take a brief flight before collapsing onto the floor. Tara is now “Toni” and a lesbian. Yeah, I said lesbian. I didn’t see that one coming. Although a very delightful development, unfortunately this does not bring her any closer to my dreams of her character finally getting naked. But it’s a long season, a guy can hope.

Arlene is yet to tell Terry that their new baby is not his. Meanwhile she is freaking out the little one will grow up to be some sort of serial killer like his real dad, Rene. Sam has finally found some common friends who are just like him and my least favorite of the lot, Hoyt and Jessica seem on their way to relationship trouble along a bumpy road. Eric and Bill are doing what they can to rebuild the trust between humans and vampires, now that Bill is, yes, a King. That would help me get over my long lost ex-girlfriend in a hurry too. Probably the most intriguing and looked- forward-to portion of the story is what Eric, now the owner of the Stackhouse estate, has in store for our damsel.

As usual, True Blood delivers in bringing the suspense, fascination and lots and lots of foreshadowing to its loyal fans. The fourth season premiere ends leaving a pretty much naked Sookie in a pretty “fangy” predicament. I’m sure she’s about used to those by now. Apparently her end scene partner is receiving quite the love from the shows female demographic. Eric has plenty of women out there wishing he would penetrate them with his, uh, fangs. What? What did you think I was going to say? Luckily the show continues to stack its roster with many, many half naked very lovely ladies. This should help to more than balance out the power of gender sex appeal for us guys.

Looking forward to next week’s episode, which can actually be seen right this very second on HBOGO, I’ll be back again the following Monday with another recap of True Blood. ‘Til then, go forth and do bad things.

Sean Guard
Follow me on Twitter @SilentScribbler

365 Days, 100 Films #30 - Siren (2010)

Siren, 2010.

Directed by Andrew Hull.
Starring Eoin Macken, Anna Skellern, Tereza Srbova and Anthony Jabre.


SYNOPSIS:

A group of friends plan to tour the coast for a relaxing weekend until they attempt to rescue a seductive, sultry young woman and find themselves fighting for their lives.


There’s a lot of stuff going on in Siren, but not much of it makes any sense. The basic premise is three friends (two guys, a girl and a pizza place) go on a sailing trip. They come across an island where a stranded, bearded, crazy man climbs aboard their boat to die. His ears were bleeding quite heavily. The trio go ashore to bury the body and they discover a girl. She’s weird and quite obviously responsible for the stranded, bearded, crazy man’s death. Our main three somehow don’t realise this and inexplicably have a beach party. They all start to have strange visions and blah blah yadda yadda… turns out the girl is a siren that kills people with her song, strumming their pain with her fingers. There might have been an “it’s all in your head” twist somewhere, but the film had collapsed long before that would have mattered under the weight of its own shoddiness. Besides, they never followed up on it. There’s a tedious love triangle too.

The acting is really quite bad. Those onscreen seem to be trying to recall their next line. The dialogue itself is just awful. The characters are never properly established, completely unlikeable and dart between moods for little reason. It’s confusing, directionless and tiresome.

A bit of exposition every now and then wouldn’t go amiss. The narrative progresses with about as much coherence as a parrot taught lines by rain man. The aforementioned beach party scene, the way people randomly disappear and the countless ensuing search party, a sudden montage of nightmarish visions with no build up or introduction.

The main actor has oversized, offensive nipples, like that Tim Curry scene from Scary Movie 2. He has his top off for about 90% of the film’s duration, its only consistency.

It tries to sell itself on sexiness, of which it has a lot. There’s a lesbian kiss and the female lead is stunning. But we can’t all be teenage boys forever, and there isn’t even enough sexy stuff to really cover its many flaws. There’s not one boob shot throughout.

This film is a colossal waste of time.

Oli Davis

365 Days, 100 Films

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Thoughts on... Sliding Doors (1998)

Sliding Doors, 1998.

Written and Directed by Peter Howitt.
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch and Jeanne Tripplehorn.


SYNOPSIS:

A young woman's life unfolds in two entirely different directions.


What if? It’s a big question in all of our lives. What if I’d told her? What if we’d stayed together? What if I’d got that promotion? What if I’d worked harder in school? What if I had had just one more day with her and the chance to say goodbye? If we’re not careful we can get snowed in by “what ifs”.

We have to keep our heads down to escape drowning in never-meant-to-bes or choking on could-have-beens. The possibilities that we spotted passing by out of reach haunt us as regrets. The second chances we never even noticed are too numerous to contemplate and tease us occasionally in our dreams. Let the “what ifs” talk too loudly and their chatter overpowers the everyday routine. Let them grow too tall and even the little things are given dark significance in their shadow.

Sliding Doors is a film about the little “what ifs” bunching together in mundane ordinary life until they have enormous individual consequences. When it was released in 1998 it was greeted by a mixed critical reception but it has since gone on to gain a dedicated following. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow as fashionable young Londoner Helen, complete with believable English accent, who is fired from her job at a PR company. She heads for home via the tube. The film follows two separate paths through her life; one in which she gets the train and one where she fractionally misses it, unable to squeeze through the sliding doors of the title.

The actor Peter Howitt wrote the script and directs a very grounded take on the idea of parallel universes and an alternate reality. The concept could have been lifted straight from sci-fi but Sliding Doors watches more like a meditation on the nature of fate, albeit with an uplifting rom-com tinge. One Helen, the one that gets the train, finds her boyfriend shagging his ex in her bed, only to fall for a handsome stranger. The other is delayed again and again until she arrives home late and unaware of the affair. She therefore carries on her life as normal, working flat out to support him as he “writes a novel”.

The plot is not all that clever, despite the engaging concept of two storylines running in tandem, and the dialogue is not especially witty or sharp. The real strength of Sliding Doors lies with the overlapping lives of rounded, likeable characters, well realised with accomplished performances. Paltrow is accessible rather than whiny in the lead role. John Hannah is convincingly charming and funny because of the way he says things, rather than what he says. John Lynch is a great actor, as he proves in the recent Ghosted, and he doesn’t come off badly here despite playing the cheating Gerry, who is often just left to look bumbling and British on the end of a full on feminine bollocking. Jeanne Tripplehorn plays mistress Lydia as a caricature but she serves a purpose and Gerry’s mate Russell (Douglas McFerran) down the pub is hilarious as the sensible one.

None of it is sublime, even the characterisation is simply above average for the genre. The acting is very good but not career defining. That said I really liked Sliding Doors. Its commonplace tone makes it all feel like it could happen to you. There some slightly surprising twists in the climax and I was a little moved and amused in places. Its parting message is somehow both more resonant and bearable than most romantic comedies. Some things are inevitable. And there’s always hope.

Liam Trim (follow me on Twitter)

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