Bonus points for anyone who can tell me what song the title is from and how it relates to two of this weeks films. It's a really odd week, sandwiched in the middle of the early onslaught of blockbusters there's very few bog explosions and superheroes to actually draw us into multiplexes this week. Even the highly acclaimed and eagerly awaited Attack the Block looks more like a niche product than a bona fide chart topper. Nevertheless there are some exciting prospects to be had out there, including film of week A Screaming Man.
A Screaming Man
Intense and satisfying Palme d'Or nominee from last years Cannes festival following the changing fortunes of a father and son who work on a hotel pool projected against the backdrop of the civil war in Chad. Youssouf Djaoro as the titular parent figure displays all the emotion internally in challenging and powerful performance.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Attack the Block
Exciting looking trailer for Joe Cornish's Aliens vs. Hoodies feature, produced by the team behind Shaun of the Dead - with an added Nick Frost cameo. It's had great notcies on the festival circuit, even taking into account the U.S. audience wanting subtitles, and no doubt it has a cult future ahead of it.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Love Like Poison
Beguiling debut feature from Katell Quillevere, taking it's original French title from a Serge Gainsbourgh song Un Poison Violent. The film focuses on 14 year-old Anna as she prepares for her confirmation into the Catholic church, deals with her parents separation and begins to experience sexual desire. Typical French movie, then.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Red Hill
Ozploitation that mixes the obvious ingredients of pshychotic outback communities, an Aboriginal with almost supernatural survival skills and a father-to-be fresh from "Home & Away". It won't win any awards but you know exactly what you're going to get.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
The Way
Emilio Estevez directs his father Martin Sheen for the second time in this moving look at grief and how fathers relate to their sons, as Sheen sr takes a pilgramge along the Way of St. James following his wastrel sons demise in an attempt. For 2 hours and 8 minutes watch him walk, chat with stranger, and find a new appreciation of life.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Amreeka
The U.S. immigrant experience (for a middle class West Bank family in rural Illinois) gets dissected in this American/Canadian co-production, although it seems to avoid the biting satire and preaching liberalism you may expect from the premise.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Love U... Mr. Kalakaar
Hindi Movie with more than usually insipid plot description about a cartoonist who derives his inspiration from emotional responses to the sky, a spider's web or a scrap of paper and a female accountant. Not for the faint hearted.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Seniors
Our second Bollywood entry, this time in Malayamlan, concerns four 30 somethings who decide to return to university for a post-graduate Philosophy course, and for the opportunity to really turn their comfortable lives upside down.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Risen
Somewhat unnecessary boxing drama about 1968 World Feather weight champion Howard Winstone who took the title in spite of being really rather nice and having a unusual fighting style. Shane Ritchie and John Noble are the big names in the cast list which kind of tells you what you're up against in this lightweight Brit film.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Take Me Home Tonight
Totally unnecessary 80's throwback starring rolled-jacket-sleeved Topher Grace (32) as he gatecrashes to college parties in order to woo big haired Teresa Plamer (25). The on the nose soundtrack is probably the only plus.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Friday, 13 May 2011
I was once like you are Now (Out this week - 13/05/11)
Samantha Morton
Happy Birthday to
Samantha Morton
34 today
The Nottingham born actress is famous for her low-key and immensely powerful performances in British and American movies, in low budget indies and massive block-busting spectacles. We'll finally get the opportunity to see her supporting turn in Oren Moverman's The Messenger later this month and beyond that I'm most looking forward to Cosmopolis.
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Katherine Hepburn - Always a Lady
Last night I received an e-mail from Andrew over at Encore Entertainment (if you're not already a reader I highly recommend popping over and browsing through his excellent reviews and encyclopedic knowledge) reminding me that today would have been Katherine Hepburn's 104th birthday. As a tribute he has asked for fellow bloggers to just briefly mention our favourite Hepburn performance, a tribute to the first thing that comes to mind. I can honestly say that was tough - I love Hepburn's work, only a couple of days ago I was extolling her comic skills in The Philadelphia Story to a colleague and The Lion in Winter remains close to one of my favourite films of all time.
However what came to my head first was "They don't make actors like that anymore", and I guess that's as good an epithet as any. 
Throughout her career (and even when out of the media spotlight) Katherine oozed class, proudly stood up for her gender and fought every step of the way to ensure her career went the right way. Blessed with a deeply sardonic voice and unique Bryn Mawr cadences (an attribute I can't remember her ever trying to hide) Hepburn was as much a star as the breathy European actresses like Garbo and Dietrich, clearly breaking the mode of the fluffy ingenue packaged by the studios that the American cinema goers were more used to.
Indeed she had to fight commercial and critical failure during the late thirties due to her unconventional style, but that resilience and fortitude we see so rarely today pushed her back to Broadway for "The Philadelphia Story", the success of which firmly sealed her in the public conscience.
The rest, as they say, is history. Unafraid to be herself Katherine racked up 12 Oscar nominations and an unparralleled 4 wins, her collaborations with Spencer Tracy (and their offscreen romance) are legendary, she has a body of work that shames most actresses of the time let alone stars of today. 
And in this modern age of celebrity culture, of plastic interchangeable actresses and forgettable female roles I doubt we'll ever see her ilk again.
Lindsay Crouse
Happy Birthday to
Lindsay Crouse
63 today
The former wife of David Mamet has a fine literary and theatrical history, with wide experience in film and TV. Oddly she was listed as one of the most promising young actors in John Willis' Screen World in both 1977 and 1984 (you'd think that they might have checked if someone had been mentioned already).
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Hanna
2011. Dir: Joe Wright. Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana, Tom Hollander and Olivia Williams. ●●●●○
We have an interesting parallel for my review with Thor last weekend. Like the Marvel adaptation Hanna feels almost like two films tied together, the first a look at the almost superheroic powers of our heroine Saoirse Ronan, the other a gentle fish out of water comedy as Hanna mixes with "normal" people - a hippy family floating around Morocco. Where this movie outperforms the former is the general sense of menace, the stakes here are real, people - the innocent as well as the culpable - will get hurt just for interacting with the girl.
The story opens with Hanna living with her father, Eric Bana, in a woodcutters cottage close to the Arctic circle. He's educating her in every skill she'll need to know; a selection of languages, how to gut a caribou, the theory of music and how to break a man's neck. Understandable it's not a normal child-raising but then Hanna is not an ordinary child. Able to beat her father in combat you can see the strength and agility in every move she makes. We learn little about her at this point, but pay attention as every point that's made will be important later in the plot. From her words to the deer to the Grimm's fairy tales book she reads.
Indeed it's that link to Grimm that completely overwhelms the basic story. This is a modern fairy tale, one that takes our heroine from her humble beginnings through a journey of self-discovery where she must confront an evil step-mother (semi-renegade CIA agent Cate Blanchett) and face some cold truths about her own origins.
The closest to reality this film has is the foster like family, led by Olivia Williams and Jason Flemyng as a bickering and fascinating couple taking their children across Morocco and Southern Europe and reacting to the introduction and consequences of meeting the precocious protagonist. In this middle section Hanna begins to emotionally connect to her new family, experiencing a sense of familial attachment for the first time. This family are built on love not on a desperate need to avenge history.
In the meantime Blanchett recruits her wolves. A peroxide wigged Tom Hollander camply preening around his sex shops and neo-nazi thugs oozing menace like a predator in tennis shorts.
All the performances work in context of the movie, the grounded work by Williams and Flemyng nicely counterpointing the overacting of Hollander and Blanchett who totally owns the role, completely unafraid of working the stereotypes. The revelatory performance though is from Saoirse Ronan, with her clear eyes and virtually translucent skin she perfectly portrays the innocence and tenacity of the character, facing the collapse of her world and fighting her way through to the other side. It's hard to imagine this is the same girl who deservedly earned her first oscar nomination as the meddlesome sister in Joe Wright's Atonement.
Wright has proved himself a versatile and superb director with a picture that would at first glance appear to be completely outside of his comfort zone. Capable of creating tension in quiet scenes and filming some of the most well choreographed action scenes I've seen for a while this makes the prospect of Wright moving back into costume dramas for Anna Karenina seem just a little disappointing.
The film isn't perfect, there are some odd inconsistencies in Hanna's understanding and reaction to technology (partly I expect as a plot cheat) and the Chemical Brothers soundtrack doesn't work all the way through (although kudos to the second film in a year to feature Greig's In the Hall of the Mountain King and in a way that feels more natural and plot-underlining than The Social Network 8 months ago).
This is the first must see I've seen from this years crop, highly recommended and if this doesn't make it to my top ten at the end of the year then I'll probably have to eat my hat.
Monday, 9 May 2011
Running (08/05/11)
I'm very disappointted with my efforts this week - a major step back on th claim that I could run a marathon. In fact I did (not as a race just as me on my own) by I did it in an awfully slow time (some 20 minutes longer than my worst actual marathon) and had to walk a couple of miles. Must work out how to break that wall...
4 runs
33.5 miles
5 hours 36 minutes
So that's an average speed of 5.99 mph (the slowest I've been in 12 weeks.)
This also marks the end of a 14 week cycle, stand by for a couple of easier weeks before I start pushing myself again. Over those 14 weeks I've run:
64 runs
310.8 miles
2 Days 0 hours 50 minutes
So that's an average speed of 6.36 mph.
That's near enough the distance from my house to Bodmin in Cornwall. Much further and I'd have had to swim!
Candice Bergen
Happy Birthday to
Candice Bergen
65 today
I really don't know why Candy is so famous. It's a mystery to me. I think it must be an American thing, after all a quick namecheck on "Will & Grace" got a laugh from the studio audience. Of course I've seen her oscar nominated role in Starting Over and a couple of other film performances but there's nothing in film that would put her so high in the public consciousness. Maybe it's her staunch feminism, maybe being the first woman to host "Saturday Night Live" or maybe the ten-year run of "Murphy Brown". I don't know. Anyone like to enlighten me.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Public Enemy Number 1 (Film News - 07/05/11)
It's been a strange week. On the one hand the non film related news completely dominated everywhere you looked from the defeat of AV and the local election results in the UK - as interesting as they were it's not as big as a general election so I didn't get into it as much as last year, apart from the AV vote the most significant impact was the Scottish National Party taking a majority in Scotland so we may expect a Referendum for Scottish independence at some point in the next 5 years - to the fallout from Bin Ladens death. Oddly that brings me on to my first piece of film news:
Kill Bin Laden
It didn't take 24 hours following the "execution" of Osama Bin Laden (note we are still a long way from finding out the facts about that day, I suspect we never will, I hope every effort was made to capture Bin Laden alive and to bring him to trial and it is unfortunate that in the heat of the moment he was killed. Of course with the continued pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the Middle East I think we can say that Bin Laden largely failed in his efforts to create a third world war - democratic Islam will succeed) before Hollywood jumped on the bandwagon. To be fair Kathryn Bigelow and her Hurt Locker scribe Mark Boal had already put together the elements for this as a quickie to film whilst waiting for location work for Triple Frontier to be completed. Of course the end of the movie, which is set to star Joel Edgerton, may now have to be changed but I doubt there's going to be much revision.
I would question whether it's worth doing. Whilst Bin Laden (below) was alive a film about the Coalition obsession with a middle aged figurehead and their fruitless attempts to locate him might have been darkly satirical and politically on-the-nose. Now it feels like jingoism. 
What do you think? Should we see a movie that depicts the chase? What will the world think of a film that seemingly approves of his demise? Feel free to comment.
Read on for a very bad day, high school shenanigans, crime bosses, , art heists, New York musicals as well as a whole load of castings and a look at what's started production.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
With a plot that sounds much like Virginia Woolfe's Mrs Dalloway - we follow a character throughout their day where nothing particularly extraordinary happens - Judith Viorst's 1972 children's book (left) about the eponymous Alexander and his endless trials and tribulations has a huge following in America (it's not one that's endured as a classic elsewhere) so it's no surprise to see it's eventual adaptation into a live action big screen adventure. I'm curious to see what they do with it - the stakes appear a little low for a movie - although we can hope a modern children's classic can be the result there really aren't enough of them these days. 
Bitch Posse
Whilst on the subject of films that are clearly not being made with me in mind Martha O'Connor's coming of age drama (left) is set to take the leap to celluloid courtesy of Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke. I know what you're thinking - Ben you hated Red Riding Hood what makes you think she can direct a decent film? - well the thing is this reminds me a lot of the basic premise of her Thirteen which really captured the difficulties of passing through teenage years unscathed by peer pressure. Bitch Posse concerns a group of teens from broken homes who form a group to support each other, but it all becomes dark and obsessive before a terrible incident splits them apart for 20 years.
Gotti: 3 Generations
I've kind of been avoiding this bizarre combination of John Travolta (and family), Joe Pesci and Lindsay Lohan in the epic look at the New York Crime family over several (um, 3) generations partly because I erroneously thought it was a TV project. So several weeks into production, with the directorial chair being taken over by Barry Levinson who has form with true life gangsters (Bugsy, 1991), I've started to tune into it. As an audience we have a long-time love affair with the gangster so there's little doubt this will succeed, my only hope is that Levinson manages to rein in the excesses that both Travolta and Pesci are capable of.
How I Live Now
Kevin Macdonald, who's currently licking his wounds after the critical and commercial backlash from The Eagle is in desperate need for a hit. Odd then that he's going to young adult fiction for inspiration. Tony Grisoni and Jeremy Brock will be adapting Meg Rosoff's novel (left) about a 15 year old New Yorker visiting Britain, falling for her cousin and becoming separated from news of her family due to war (a fake war I feel the need to point out, although it would be something if the UK and USA were cut off during war, something not even the Nazi's could do). The project will be shopped at Cannes later this month. Look out for a frantic and vaguely familiar search for a leading actress towards the end of the year.
Trance
You might think Danny Boyle wouldn't have time to make a movie right now, what with the National Theatre production of Frankenstein doing so well under his direction and only just over a year before the London Olympic opening ceremony (I'm still waiting for the call to be a blue triangle), however he's going to squeeze in a quick picture in the interim. We know next to nothing about the project right now, other than it's about an art heist that goes wrong leading to dark unpredictable consequences for the protagonists, Michael Fassbender may star, and Christian Coulson will be producing for his third collaboration with Boyle in a row. Certainly one to keep an eye on, but don't expect to see the final picture until 2013 at the earliest. And Danny, I've got all the moves sorted, please call.
Untitled Baz Luhrmann Project
Although he's pretty much committed to The Great Gatsby adaptation - although maybe not with 3D - Baz has still been chatting to MTV as part of his 10 year Moulin Rouge celebrations during which he slipped some other details of his other competing project. Frankly not much detail though. Essentially all we know is it's based in New York in the 1970's and whilst not a musical will strongly use the music from the period to create ambience. So nothing really, but I thought you'd like to know. Personally I had images in my head of Odyssey so I'm going to share:
Casting News
There have been the usual rounds of casting calls for this week. Some like Nicole Kidman seriously considering Our Wild Life are very exciting, others like Roberto Benigni possibly taking a role in Woody Allen's Rome adventure The Wrong Picture (note the confirmed title) are fascinating but probably won't significantly affect my likelihood of watching the movie. We've also heard Laura Linney is set to join Hyde Park in Hudson as FDR's cousin, Rachel Weisz will be a wicked witch in Oz, the Great and Powerful and Quentin Tarantino is pushing for Will Smith in his forthcoming Western Django Unchained. Finally there has been a torrent of casting on Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, joining Daniel Day-Lewis as honest Abe and Sally Field as Mary Todd will be Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Hal Holbrook and John Hawkes, meaning it's going to be one of the most exciting casts of next year - can't wait.
Production News
In my monthly ferret around imdb I found loads of films we've already mentioned here that are now showing up within the pre-production of development. The darkly comic duo of The Games they Play (set at a dinner party) and Bumped (in an airport) have returned to the database following an unexplained absence, as has Paul Thomas Anderson's religious drama The Master and the faux documentary about the Zombie Apocalypse World War Z. The Wrong Picture, Gotti: 3 Generations, Django Unchained (although oddly with a working title) and How I live Now have all merited mentions elsewhere in the news. Which leaves only Ben Affleck's CIA masquerading as movie makers picture Argo.
Chemins de l'Orgeuil
Oh and this little movie from A Man and a Woman director Claude Lelouch. Frankly it's been a while since one of his films made it across the channel but fingers crossed. Details are a bit sketchy right now. It's listed on imdb as an Adventure Comedy and the title translates to "Paths of Pride".
Janet McTeer
Happy Birthday to
Janet McTeer
50 today
An award winning stage actress, who rarely gets the cinematic roles to show off her considerable talent, as witnessed with her surprise best Actress Academy Award nomination in 1999 (for Tumbleweeds). Next up is giving cross-dressing advice to Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs.
Friday, 6 May 2011
Did she turn out as you hoped? (Out this week - 06/05/11)
After last weeks explosive start to the blockbuster season we're now taking a less studio-based version with art-house versions of action movies likely to dominate the box office, and some exciting animated and foreign language selections. It's a bit of an interesting time for Christopher Plummer fans too, but the film of the week is the thriller/fairy tale hybrid Hanna
Hanna
Joe Wright, director of high profile British costume dramas such as Atonement and Pride and Prejudice at first glance appears to be slumming it with this action thriller, however closer inspection reveals the style and substance he's brought to the film has made this project utterly unique.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
My Dog Tulip
Low-key animation based on J.R. Ackerley's autobiography about his friendship with a German Shepherd. Christopher Plummer, in his first role this week, is the central lead. Sadly this also has Lynn Redgrave's final performance.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Outside the Law
Rachid Bouchareb's second movie looking at the relationship between France and Algeria, the countries of his birth and of his heritage, however unlike Days of Glory this painful reminder of the Algerian Independence movement, and the ultra thin line between freedom fighters and terrorism, has stirred up painful memories of the period.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Water for Elephants
The second real test for proving if Robert Pattison can pull in an audience outside the Twilight franchise, although it won't take much to surpass his Remember Me. Reese Witherspoon plays the girl he falls in love with, Christoph Waltz her husband and Hal Holbrook looks back as an older version of the worst circus tragedy of all time. Expect a two hanky movie.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
13 Assassins
Takashi Miike, known for his more extreme revenge movies, takes a look at feudal Japan in this based on fact action adventure. The titular assassins volunteer together to defeat a sadistic lord in a virtual suicide mission (with over 30 minutes of continuous battle choreography in the final set piece).
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Engeyum Kadhal
Surprisingly delayed Tamil movie (first released in October 2010), possibly because it portrays a love story where the woman is in control and chasing her loved one.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Forget me Not
British independent love story set over 24 hours in the beauty and excitement of London's capital, the trailer recalls the lyricism and aimlessness of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
One Hundred Mornings
The most depressing plot synopsis this week comes from Ireland. Two couples hide in a isolated lakeside whilst society falls apart. The micro situation will undoubtedly reflect the micro.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Priest
Adapted from a graphic novel, from the same director-star collaborators Scott Charles Stewart and Paul Bettany, as last years apocalyptic Legion. Not expected to be any good. Brad Dourif and Christopher Plummer - yes this is the lesser of the options - take he money and run in supporting roles.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Something Borrowed
This looks so much like any other Kate Hudson rom-com that I honestly thought it had come out before. Ginnifer Goodwin is the ostensible lead, falling for her best friends (Hudson) fiance. Apparently not as bad as it might seem.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
