Sorry for the lack of content

I know i've been not posting recently.. so I'm going to just bullet-point some posts that i'm going to be doing in the next couple of weeks.

• Scriptwriting -The next Chapter 
• New Releases 
• Some reviews 
• Movie news 
• Where to source Scripts to read at your Leisure 

Keep your eyes pealed :) 

Lightsabers at the Ready... We have a release date for STAR WARS EPISODE VII

So after rumours running around for ages, Disney and Lucas Films have set the date so get your calendars at the ready.

I can reveal (thanks to IMDB) that Star Wars Episode VII (7) will be in cinemas on the 18th December 2015. I have no idea if this is the american release date or the rest of the world but keep your eyes peeled for more info!

In Bruges (Brugge) review

So sitting quiet happily in lecture as you do and the lecturer pops in a DVD... instantly my eyes looked away from my MacBook Pro and facebook to see the DVD menu for In Bruges.

Basically we were watching it from a scriptwriting point of view to analyse structure of narrative and to pick up ln particular themes running the film as you do as a student! 

What hit me at first that it was a Film 4 motion picture and to say that the British Film Industry has now become an export of skilled professionals in the art of film production it was refreshing to see a film that was made and produced by a British team. 

The film itself was set in the lovely, picturesque city of Brugge Belgium (spelling it the Flemish way), with it's medieval architecture and canals which is why the city is famous.  The film is about 2 hit men who are sent to Brugge to carry out a contracted hit for the main villain Harry (Played by Lord Voldemort and M himself Ralf Fiennes). What they don't realise is after a series of events leading up to this trip to Belgium will lead one hit-man to commit suicide to save the other.

What struck me from the offset is how the narrative is dictated by the dialogue which is unusual for any type of film. When looking at the narrative it's the characters stand out the most. The characters are important and it's their underlying story lines that make this film what it is.

Colin Farrell's character Ryan is our main protagonist and in the film we find out what events have lead him to be in Brugge. Ryan is characteristically child like which can be seen through his dialogue. He is very childlike, repeating sentences and asking numerous amounts on questions that have been explained to him time and time again.  He realises on another Hit- Man who is in a way a father figure to him and this relationship is tested in the film from start to finish.
I must say nothing is plain sailing and as the film progresses there is more and more reveals that makes example of the theme.

The theme is of Religion and focuses on the Catholic Faith, there are many signatures in the film and Brugge is used a separate and important character in this to show this theme. It is not made obvious why Brugge is linked to this theme, but uses the beautiful churches in the city as a focus.


I did love this film but this was from my experiences in Brugge and taking a trip down memory lane.
I loved the narrative and the characterisation of this film and would recommend that people should watch it.

Review on the way

Watching In Bruges in Lecture so there will be a blog post up later on with a review.
But in the meantime heres the trailer:

The End is Neigh - Ronald Emmerick's Masterpiece

Not many directors can boast that they have distroyed the world in a movie but the king of the disaster movie can.

 We all know Ronald Emmerick the German who likes to pack a punch when it comes to natural disasters and the end of the world as we know it. So when the opportunity arose to make a film about the prediction made by the Mayans 1000's of years ago that the world would end on the 21st of December 2012 there was only one man for the job. 

Although the irony of this post is the fact that we did survive and are now  in the last few months of 2013 (It's been a year since good old London town hosted the Olympics Games and Andy Murray won Wimbledon!),Emmerick gave us a terrifying look of what we could've expected if on the fateful day or in this case earlier to be expected the course of events would lead to the complete distruction of the Earth and everything that inhabits it.. so basically we were screwed from the outset. 

So what could of we expected? 

Where do I begin: 

. Tsunamis

. Earth Quakes 

. Super Volcanos 

. Fault Lines Shifting 

And thats just to name a few things that went on in this movie, unleashing Hell on Earth was Emmerick's plan and he succeeded! 

The plot line is simple, Scientist discovers that the end of the world is coming, tells his American college.... who tells his boss... who rings the President and then he holds a meeting with other world leaders and then they agree to save their own arses and give out opportunities for the mega rich to buy themeselves tickets to save their skins from the end of the world to the wonderful and god awful disgusting tune of €1BILLION to board specially built archs that will survive the eventual Mega-Tsunami that will engulf the the earth and they'll sail away happily aboard making a new civilisation for themselves once they hit dry land whilst waiting for the water to recede. 

So what about the rest of the world.. you and I ??? 

             

                 WE DIE!!!! 

Yep again Emmerick can show you the cruelty humanity can go through when facing a massive crisis but surprisingly our main character played by the lovely John Cusack who plays a normal guy who is a struggling author, divorced parent of two beautiful children and a limmo driver for the mega rich russian buisness man. He discovers after getting caught going over a high security government fence in Yellowstone national park that all is not well and something is going on for the Government to keep something a huge secret, he meets a crazy man who tells him that hey you're going to die. With this events lead to the complete destruction of the Californian coast... LA literally gets taken back by the Pacific Ocean and that sets the wheels into motion. He takes action getting his ex wife, two children and ex wives boyfriend and in the midst of complete and total carnage drives them to the airport when he hires a plane and hopefully gets them out of dodge. 

Anyway thats all you're going to know about the narrative otherwise i'm spoiling a complete and total Masterpiece. 

2012 is for all those who love a good disaster movie, it's literally just a film that uses every scenario known to man of how the world could end by using Mother Nature herself or complete countries or even continents could be wiped out and combines them all in a feast for the senses! Forget everything you've seen before, throw The Day After Tomorrow out of the window that was just the eastern sea board of America and New York in particular, in this film you get to see California go, Yellowstone errupt, The Vatincan fall to pieces and even the White House being completely crushed by a wave so huge it would distroy everything in it's path. It is just complete and utter carnage, with masses of people being CGI'd to their deaths and countries just gone. 

It is like Disaster Movie Porn in a way it's so over the top, hit you in the face ... This is the end of the world! But god is it worth it!! 

I love this film from start to finish , it does have moments in the narrative where you are nearly in tears as it focuses on humanity in this extreme situation and how it adapts to these new conditions and shows just how cruel and fickle we are as a race. And how an everyday person can defy the odds and end up a hero. 

I am rating this a 4 out of 5! 

The Fifth Estate- Not What I Expected

Walking into the cinema I expected a film that would highlight Julian Assange as a Protagonist, the hero of this film rather than it's villain. But like most things my thoughts were further from the truth. The film doesn't in my view follow Julian Assange's fight and plight against bringing out a website that reveals secrets without revealing their sources, a Revolutionary of his time.

The film however is based on the book by Daniel Berg, Assange's right hand man, the film highlights Assange's past and how this effected his decisions and this is vital to how he is portrayed on screen. I'm still confused what the message was with Assange as a character, to me the way he is made out to be is a mentally unstable man who is obsessive and controlling and most importantly Damaged.

Thrown into the narrative was the relationship with the Guardian News Paper, who in the end made a deal with Assange to publish information about the war in Afghanistan. This also lead to the sub plot with the US government and how Wiki Leaks could've brought down the whole US government. It was in the sense the biggest Storm they were facing on both sides of the argument.

Regardless of the narrative which I have some major issues with, the film itself is well rounded and produced. It has the edge of a spy thriller to it from the outset, with the sub plot of government agencies and information that was so top secret that having it in the hands of someone like Wiki Leaks could be disastrous. Wiki Leaks is made out to be a new form of espionage for the 21st century, providing confidential information to be leaked without revealing it's sources to bring Truth and Justice to the masses.
 Benedict Cumberbatch's performance was brilliant, after a while you were swept up in the way he had even mastered Assange's Australian accent, the bleached blonde hair(which I still don't know is a wig) and even mannerisms were perfection. I can see him earning a Oscar for that performance next year.
Daniel Burhl is our lead, although it Cumberbatch has been given the limelight due to his character being who he is, but the way in which Burhl plays Daniel Berg with this sense that somehow he is the victim and really our protagonist rather than the less important character or supporting character was interesting. In truth this might be because this film is Daniel Berg's story rather than Assange's story and this is felt as the film progress.


So here is the thing I want to address.... THE NARRATIVE!!!! 

The narrative to me didn't have a clear resolution to it, the film didn't really tie up anything with the climax not even being pointed out to the audience which is sometimes a good tactic to have as a script writer but it seemed that the resolution was in a way was changed to fit a purpose that I could guess. I have nothing against the narrative, I think it's brilliantly written but something doesn't add up to me and this is just my opinion.  In the second act Assange is made out to be the villain of the piece or maybe the false hero of the piece. As an audience you can't really decide who you want to back and in a way you leave confused to who you should've felt empathy for. And this is still puzzling me right now and it will do until I watch it again or read the source information of this film. It's hard to put fact into fiction and transfer it to screen and in that respect I would recommend that you research up on the backstory to the film and more importantly the narrative.


Overall I thought that the film will provoke conversations on the issues that it addresses depending what your view is on the subject matter and whether you are in favour of what Assange has done. It was well edited and used real footage as well as film and had a lot of jokes which Media Students will get in an instant. I think that you have to watch this film with an open mind and not be sucked into it emotionally or view it in great detail and watch it as a drama rather than a documentary.
I would recommend watching this and really did enjoy it and loved Cumberbatch's performance in particular ... also look out for the new Doctor Who and Professor Lupin from Harry Potter making an appearance!!!

Review on the way... The Fifth Estate

The new film that everyone is talking about, the film about Wiki Leaks creator and journalist Julian Assange is out now in cinemas.

So with this in mind tonight i'll be going to see it.

Check the Blog tomorrow for the review , but in the meantime here is the trailer:

Armageddon- Michael Bay Masterpiece

To date I haven't really enjoyed Michael Bay films ... Transformers was one of those films that for me didn't really hit the nail on the head for narrative but visually was mind blowing. 

Rewind to 1997 and to Armageddon, an end of the world epic that consists of a massive astriod and oil drillers going into space, now that is a film.

So when it popped on BBC 1 last night , I really wanted to watch it but it was bed time , fast forward to 20 minutes later, I opened Netflixs and decided I had to watch it! 

From the outset you cannot tell it is stylistically a Michael Bay Film! No way it'a more in the style of the disaster movie king Ronald Emerich which for years I was under the impression it was a Emerich film rather than Bay. 

Throw in lead characters being played by the hunky Ben Afleck (now an award winning director), The Veteran of action Bruce Willis and the daughter of a rock star Liv Tyler and you're onto a winner! 

What this film managed to do was add not only the edge of your seat thrill to a film but also a comedy element throughtout with main characters and also not so important characters throwing in comedy elements such as Space Dementia - in NASA speak when you go looney in space and a few comical happenings when the first astroid hits New York City with a pun directed at Godzilla  and Bruce Willis shooting Afleck in the leg for sleeping with his onscreen daughter Liv Tyler it's not just another Disaster Flick no no.

The narrative follows the simple plot line of a huge bad ass astriod is going to collide with Earth and when it hits it'll cause the damage it did when the Dinos were wiped out all those Billions of years ago. 

Cut to NASA and the whole of the American government freaking out and some of the greatest minds in the world stuck on ideas to actually get rid of the thing before it has chance to wipe out Earth and come up with the idea to blow it up with a nuclear weapon from the inside! sounds so simple. 

But you might have a problem ... an MIT degree is not going to help you when you don't know how to drill! 

Call in Bruce Willis... Our Hero of the piece, who from the outset thinks it's all some big joke... until he gets to Huston and realises that this is real and only he can save the earth! 

What follows is a rollocoaster of events that you need in your second act cos lets face it the film would be boring otherwise.... and so it begins... days of NASA training and development of a drill powerful enough to cut through the unknown rock and a team of well to put it politely crooks and idiots. 

Brilliant!! 

The real underlying story is the narrative of  love, which is more James Cameron esque but Bay did do it with Transformers.  It was heart breaking and emotional ... Liv Tyler knows how to turn on the water works and you're there with her ... crying floods of tears! 

Knowing that her father and fiancee are in space and that they may never come back ... is to some degree the worst. 

Overall this film is a great film for both men and women ... it appeals with it's sci-fi disaster action and fast paced narrative for the men, but for a woman this film has the all important love story and all the emotional themes that we (that is a royal 'we') need to actually  maybe enjoy a film like this rather than loads of action which in the end will bore you. 

I actually love this film and more importantly it's soundtrack performed by Liv Tyler's Daddy with the band Areosmith! If you weren't crying at the start of this you will by the end! 

The Iron Lady- Maggie Thatcher's bio pic

When I first saw this on Netflix I was a little bit wary about watching a film that gained it's lead actress an academy award for playing the role of Britain's longest serving Prime Minster and the most controversial Prime Minister of the 20th century. 

On the surface it looks like you will get to see the portrayal of the Margret Thatcher Britain remembers, the strong willed, ruthless and some times cold hearted woman that put the miners out of work and broke Britain's back. But in this film we see Margret at the end of her life as a lonely old woman clinging onto the memory of  her late husband. I think that sometimes the auidence are drawn into looking at her as a very old lonely old woman and to almost feel sorry for her but be that as it may as the film progresses we see Margret's flash backs from when she was a teenager to the resigning as Prime Minister. It looks over all aspects of her time including the miners strike and more interestingly The Falklands War. 

Overall I did enjoy the film due down to the acting... Meryl Streep  played Margret Thatcher beautifully even mimicking her voice. When watching her you felt that you were infact watching Maggie athatcher after a while and the star of this film has to be Jim Broadbent as Dennis Thatcher, he was a joy to watch from start to finish... where was his Oscar??? I think that if you are going to watch this film, watch it with an open mind. Maybe as someone who never experienced life under Thatcher's rule I went into this film with no prior emotions, although I have heard nightmare stories about the great handbag herself! 

I would recommend watching this film amd so would give it 3 stars out of 5.

Review on the way

I posted a bit ago about Diana ... well expect a review either tonight or tomorrow ... as i'm sat in the cinema right now :) 

New Review

I love this film, but haven't seen it for a while, this film is for all those girls out there so sit back in your onsies with a cup of coco and relax.... Review will be up soon on the little blog about film :) 

The Perfect Villain

What makes the perfect Film Villain??


I want to know stay tuned to the blog for my pick of the pops of the best Villains of all time!!!


And what I think makes the Perfect Villain

Nicole Kidman takes on the role as a Princess

Yes this is the second time today that I have blogged about films that are all about Royal families.

Nicole Kidman stars later this year in the film Grace Of Monaco where she plays the Hollywood Queen Grace Kelly.

The film looks into the troubles and struggles that Monaco goes through difficult times with a dispute between her husband and the French in the early 1960's.
 The film looks closely into Grace Kelly's Marriage to Prince Rainer III and Kelly's struggle with her identity as a famous Hollywood starlet turned Princess.


From the trailer (that will be posted at the end of this post) it has an air of old Hollywood, the stylistic way in which the colour in the film has been enhanced to look like the old 1950's and certainly early 1960's Old Hollywood Glamour has been added to make the piece more in my view nostalgic and beautiful.

Heres a quick look at the trailer...

Diana The People's Princess - Her last years on screen

So friday the most talked about film with controversial headlines is released in cinemas ... of course i'm talking about:

In brief this film looks into the last years of Diana's Life before her tragic Death in 1997. Paying close attention to her love life. We've had Dame Helen Mirian's beautiful and award winning performance of the Queen! Now it's time for Naomi Watts to shine a light on the people's princess.
The scary part is that Naomi Watts does with the aid of a prosthetic nose and voice coaching from the trailers that i have watched she is Diana on screen down to her mannerisms and the way she moves.

The actress has taken on a rather big challenge as everyone loved Diana, looking forward to seeing it in cinemas.
Heres a sneaky peak at what is to come.

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Number One in The UK Official Box Office

No Surprises who this went to???


They have already been number 1 in several if not all countries in the music charts and now they have actually took over and completely blown the UK Box Office wide open!

One Direction with their film 'This Is Us' has gone straight to the top of the charts without a hick up in sight knocking off Kick Ass 2 to my disappointment. Can they keep clinging on to the number 1 spot or will another film come and knock them off the number 1 spot???

Facebook Page Coming Soon

Keep your eyes peeled on the blog Contact me page as soon there will be the address to link you to the all new Facebook page!!!! 

Alternatively keep your eyes on the twitter for more info:  

@Film_Buff22  

Narrative and Characters - Essential to films

We all know when we've been to the cinema or bought a film that we really wanted to see due to the fantastic trailer only to be disappointed by the actual content when you finally sit down and watch the film. 

Whether it be a Hollywood blockbuster or a small short, narrative and characters are important! 

Watching some films you sometimes getting the feeling like it was rushed through production and wasn't given the due care and attention that it needed as the plot will have so many holes in it that it doesn't make sense or the characters are not believable because they are over or under written. 

I found this out when planning and writing a script that Narrative is key... having a strong narrative arch where the characters basically go on a journey with twists and turns that are well thought are really difficult. If it involves a murder plot it's even worse!!  Before even thinking of writing your script plot out what is going to happen through a Step Outline which is basically all your scenes in bullet points and then once that is down a Scene Breakdown that is a more detailed outline of all the scenes, short paragraphs of what is going to happen in your script.    

After all that is done the first thing anyone needs to do in the 1st act is to set up the world you're putting your audience in ... build up images for them to see ... make sure it is if in Script form that it is visual as at the end people are going to see it. 

Once that is done set up your characters although you can do both at the same time , your opening scenes can feature your main character... when writing A Deadly Sin I made sure that my main character and her world was set up perfectly... although it took about 4 drafts to get the first 10 minutes on screen right! The character needs to be known from the beginning, who are they, what is their profession? ect... 

For this character Bio's done before hand are important you can't go into this blind... method actors get inside their character's heads when acting... writers should really method write... where they get inside their character's mind whether they are a real life person or one from your own mind... you need to know what they look like, their personality, how they process information, do they have a mental illness, what is their background... basically make the character your number 1 priority when doing bio's as it will help you understand their mind and when it comes to writing them into a script you'll find it easier. 

At the end of every first act a problem has to arise or the situation has to change to launch them into the fun but hard process of the second act where the fun and games literally start. What this is called is The Catalyst.  

The Catalyst could be a murder, someone dies that they love or in the case of A Deadly Sin a victim actually comes back into my main character's work place still alive ... so she has to decide to kill him or not and risk being caught... at this point i'd also thrown in my other main character who meets a sticky end... so the catalyst as i remember it was that she'd killed the victim by over dosing him in hospital( where she works) and the other character had his suspicions and confronts her... and bang queue Act 2. 

Act 2 is where all the drama unfolds the chase ... confronting the problem and well through a lot of panicking and working out the situation you can work out a resolution that is your third act ... all confusing i know. 

In simple terms act 2 is the main block of the narrative where everything happens... so work it out ... re read your notes! You can edit your notes as you go on... as the story will change and develop! 

Don't panic about it ... if you're unsure get someone to read what you have written and get them to give you feedback they'll be able to see objectively what is good and what needs to be altered and also what doesn't make sense! It's a scary process and you will feel exposed as at the end of the day this is your work but sometimes another pair of eyes is better than none! 

It is a complex and scary task to write your own script but knowing how to do it will ultimately help you out! 

This is not a guide ... well it kinda is but if

you're stuck find websites to help you :)  

Actor turned Director to star in a tag- team Warner Bro's film in 2015!

Yes the rumours are true, Ben Affleck (director of Argo) has been confirmed as the new Batman for the collaborative Batman/Superman film due to be released in 2015.  There has been some bad reactions to this due to the fact that Batman was just completed with the fantastic trilogy written by David S Goyer and directed by legend Christopher Nolan.

There are doubts that the new tag team film will not live up to the trilogy that Christopher Nolan has just completed. The trilogy itself rebuilt Batman as a franchises credibility and to find out that it may be torn to pieces is not going to go down well in the comic/film community.


Whatever the outcome will be... I'm sure Mr Affleck will try and give Batman the justice the character deserves....



Any thoughts go to twitter and tweet me @Film_Buff22

Nolan to make 2 sequels of Momento

according to Empire Mag Christopher Nolan (BatmanTrilogy,The Prestige)has confirmed  that  he will be making two more sequels of the most confusing film in history Momento. 

I'm looking forward to the latest sequels ... 

Highlander trailer (1986 original feature)

Highlander to Be Re-Booted

 A couple of posts ago I discussed the Re-boot or in simple terms the remake, well thanks to my lovely friends of Google+ I have found out that Hollywood might be re-booting Highlander.

Part of me is jumping for joy but another part of me is more scared about this re-boot as Highlander is a classic in so many ways and is a vintage 1980's film. the worry for me is not to do with the Narrative or the actors who will play the main characters.

My concern is falling onto the soundtrack as it is very dear to my heart, as everyone knows the soundtrack is the Kind Of Magic album by Queen. As a Queen fan I would want the new producers to keep the original soundtrack that was wrote for the film also the musical scores in the original film is also along the same lines and is in keeping with Queen's music. The fear that may happen is that they completely re-make the film and make it for the new generation, which means stripping everything back and then making an entire movie from the beginning with only the plot to go off.

This is the rumour floating around and is not yet confirmed.... so stay tuned for more info, in the meantime Don't lose your head!

Top of The Pops... UK Box Office Top 10 This Week

(BBC 1990's logo for TV programme)

This weeks top ten is a mix of Summer Smashes and films to entertain the little ones before they return to school. 

At number 10: 

The Minions of Despicable Me 2 are still in the Top 10 after 8 weeks in the UK Box Office Charts. 

Following on from the hit movie, Despicable Me 2 see's more chaos and laughter all round provided by the main stars those naughty Minions. Egor is no longer a Super Villain but instead is now a hero and a proud adopted father. Grossing a total of  £41.5 million the brits still love it after 8 weeks in Cinemas. 

Number 9:

Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters might have only been in cinemas for only 2 weeks but is having a slow start in the Box Office Charts. The adaptation of the famous series of books written by Rick Riordan tells the story of a twelve year old Dyslexia boy who has extraordinary powers. The films opening weekend stats were £834K  with a total so far of £4.25 million so far.

Number 8: 

The Smurfs 2 has only been in cinemas for 3 weeks but something again seems wired about the number of Cinema Goers wanting to see this film. Following on from the first films success and with the lovely Katy Perry staring as Smurfette it is surprising that not many people have flocked to see the Smurfs back in action with an evil twist. It's opening weekend at the UK Box Office saw the film make £839K with a grand total of £8.54 million so far. It seems kids films are not to everyones taste. 

Number 7: 

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. 

He's back, yes everyones favourite DJ has decided to make his own action film!!! With all you need for the perfect hostage situation in a radio station you need the number 1 DJ. With barrels of laughs from the start, Steve Cogan's alter ego might just dominate the charts in further weeks to come at the Box Office. Only been on our screens and in the chart for 2 weeks Partridge has already made on his opening weekend £853K and within these 2 weeks has made a total of..... £4.18 million so far!!! Congratulations!!!!  

Number 6:

The first of two Disney Pixar films to be on the chart we head back to University with those cuddly Monsters that are Mike and Sully. Things weren't always perfect in Mike and Sully's relationship as we all find out with the best buddies actually hating eachother. Again something for the kids and Big Kids alike. With 6 weeks in the Box Office it's already has a gross total of £25.8 million with it's opening weekend earning the monsters £893K. Not bad!!!


Number 5:

















We're half way through our top 10 now so lets see who has placed half way...
It's the spine chilling scary real life story film that has had audiences sleeping with the lights on for over 3 weeks now. Yes this new Horror film is based on events in a house that is haunted. Forget Paranormal Activity for a second and make sure you have a pillow to hide behind before seeing this film before you spill your popcorn everywhere! It's opening weekend saw The Conjuring gain £973K at the Box Office as Brits scared themselves silly! And it's total so far is a spine tingling £8.04 million.

Number 4:
















Grown Ups 2 might be still 2 weeks into the charts but with adults becoming more badly behaved and with crazy pranks and jokes from the start us brits have been lapping up Adam Sandler's new film.
On it's opening weekend it made £1.12 million as us Brits flocked to our local cinemas in our thousands it seems and at the moment has earned £4.47 million so far!


SO BEGIN YOU'RE DRUM ROLES PLEASE OR PUT ON LED ZEPLIN WHOLE LOTTA LOVE WE'RE HEADING INTO OUR TOP 3!!!

To recap we've already seen Monsters, Minions, Alan Partridge, Scary happenings, sea monsters and Smurfs but now it's time to see the three most popular films from this week!

Number 3:














2 Guns staring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg is hitting our screens with punchy, blowing up action! With this film earning itself the third position this week in our charts there is no question why with a plot summery that will make every man's dreams come true. Guns and explosions galore along with Drug Cartels thrown in. It's opening weekend saw it earn £1.42 Million and so far at only 1 week in the charts has earned the film a total so far of £1.42 million!!! Not a bad start!



Number 2:

Following on from the success of Cars the hit Disney Pixar film, they have decided to release Planes.
Planes is along the same narrative lines of Cars and consists of Racing but who cares as people have been flocking to see the new offering from the powerhouse that is Pixar!! It's opening weekend saw the film rank at the number 2 spot but also saw it earn £1.74 Million and gross that so far only being 1 week in the charts i'm sure we won't see this film move from the top 3 for a while... until the kids go back to school that is.

So who's our Number 1????


Number 1:












Get your party poppers and stand on your feet and applause for our new number 1 spot holder and grab your masks as Kick Ass 2 is now our Number 1 !!!

See Dave and Mindy come back into action saving the world and kicking ass at the same time with some new faces. No longer are Kick Ass and Hit Girl on their own as they now to go to war with the ultimate super villain Motherf*@!$r (formally known as Red Mist) as they go into an epic battle.
With only 1 week at the box office it's already earned £2.48 million so far. Awesome!

So Thats it for this week!!!

With One Direction releasing their first film Kick Ass might have to fight his way back to the top of the UK Box Office!

All Stats taken from :
www.imdb.com

Popstar turned into Film Star - When Music Collides with Film

The title maybe confusing but with the release of the new 1D3D film today teenie boppers around the world are giggling in excitement to see their favourite band on the big screen. Now One Direction  aren't the first music stars to buck the Movie Trend. From the Beatles to even Sir Mick Jagger have all taken to the screens for one reason or another.

But when does it become OK for a band or a music star to walk away from the stage and head to the screen instead??


In the past we have seen some of the biggest names in the pop world go in front of the camera to make big scale films to either give us a glimpse into their world, these include not just One Direction but also Katy Perry that earned her over $7million on her opening weekend at the box office and has grossed over $25 million so far.
 Katy also stars as Smurfette in of course The Smurfs seeing her acting career sore off the back of her documentary. This lovely lady is here to stay in film.

Also in the documentary category is the guy who is the marmite of the world of pop... you either love him or hate him either way you can't seen to get away from him... of course i'm talking about Justin Bieber, yes the guy who sang that annoying song with the repeated words of Baby and Oh... you know the one back in 2011 decided to release his debut film, following him around on his world tour Never Say Never earned the Teen over £820,592 in the Uk Box Office on his opening weekend which is just a drop in the ocean on his gross that totals so far at over $73 million in the US.


Moving on from documentaries, we're into the fiction territory excluding This Is Spinal Tap (which is awesome!) namely bands have bucked this trend starting with one of the biggest selling bands in the 1990's and who had us all chanting Girl Power. You might have guessed already and yes it is the Spice Girls. Yes Sporty, Scary, Posh, Baby and Ginger Spice released their first and last i'm sorry to admit film Spice World: The Movie. With cameos from Meatloaf and other music stars this film grossed over $29 million and earned on their opening weekend over $10 million at the Box Office. Not to bad for girl power. Spice World is kinda like This is Spinal Tap with the Moc-Documentary style.

Moving onto another Brit bands actually most of the fiction section about the brit bands, do you remember S Club 7? Back in 2003 (I was 11) they released seeing double their first feature film about them being cloned... yes I know but then this film was a success i think?
Looking at the stats from the box office it only earned the band £338,383 in it's opening weekend and has grossed just over £2million.

Another Brit band haven't just done a film once they did it twice, yes now please please please (clue to who they are!) be kind as I love this band as much as I love Movies!!! Mcfly starred in their first feature film back in 2006 with no other than Chris Pine (aka Captain Kirk from Star Trek) and Lindsey Lohan (Mean Girls, Herbie) with rumours spreading around after the first release that the drummer of the band got it on with Lohan whilst on set Just my Luck didn't do very well. It was supposed to be the next Pretty Women or somewhat like it.. but although the band had only a small role the film only made $5 million in it's opening weekend at the US box office and only a very tiny £579,306 on it's opening weekend at the UK box office (OUCH!) but it has grossed over $17 million in the US!!! Not so good for the British band that write songs for One Direction! Skip forward to 2010... the band have spent millions on a new super site which is revolutionary (they no longer use it!) and to celebrate their return to the charts release their second film, this time a 30 minute short with a fantasy theme No Where Left To Run see's a more mature Mcfly rather than the fresh and baby faced (excluding Dougie the bassist) Mcfly with themes of a sexual nature, moderate violence and Fantasy Themes which earned the film a certificate of 15 by the BBFC. Nowhere Left to Run isn't the best film really made on a lowish budget (It can't be found on IMDB.com) you can tell by the CGI and only to be released on DVD the film is a series of music videos following the narrative of one of the band members (remember the drummer) Harry being a vampire and all hell breaks lose... worth a watch if you're interested? It's ok but i wouldn't call it a masterpiece!

The question is that whatever bands may do is it really worth making a film???

The Reboot

It is good to have a reboot of classic films?

 In recent years we have seen some of the biggest films from the 1970's and 1980's being rebooted for a younger audience with more technology to play with, it's a directors dream now to make a film that in it's time wasn't the best due to either it's lack of narrative or due to the actual CGI on offer at the time and lets face facts there wasn't much to play with back in the day is it a good idea to make a new version once you have all the tools to do so???  

Take yourselves back to 1987, Bon Jovi was still rocking out at the top of the charts and Robocop was just released in Cinemas. 

New suited and Booted Robocop! 

1987 Robocop!

Fast forward to 2013, Robocop is in production once more, set to be released in 2014 the film is still the same but just having a major face lift. With Joel Kinnaman taking the lead as Robocop himself, with other famous faces joining him such as Samuel L Jackson and Gary Oldman in this seemingly awesome remake!  Turning back time just a bit 2012 saw some remakes hit our screens again, with Total Recall and Dredd hitting the screens with a bang. 

Arnie in the 1990 version!

Total Recall 1 was good but it wasn't the best, with the cheesiest CGI i've seen for years (Eye balls popping out of head cringe moment) it put other Arnie films to shame ( I am talking about The Terminator) so when they announced a whole new Total Recall part of me kinda died, thinking it would be just the same but rebooted. But Boy was I wrong. Total Recall on the surface is a brilliant concept, narrative wise it has everything you need, suspense, drama and complete and utter confusion most of the time, but what the original one lacked was the over complexity of the narrative. By sending Quad to Mars? To this day that still confuses me, i know in the film we (humans) had people/mutants up there for some reason?? 

Farrel as Quad in Recall!

Anyway the new one kept it simple, still set in the future this time it was more about what the world would look like if a nuclear bomb had exploded and only Britain(whoo) and Australia had survived. So what happens Britain becomes a rich state and Australia i'm afraid becomes the poor state that works for the rich state.  So you should know how the plot follows on from there, Recall is a place where you can simulate and live out your fantasies so long as you have never experienced them before. So when Quad goes to recall wanting to be a spy for an hour or two it all ends in tears as it turns out he is one and that everything in his life is a lie down to his wife who is also a spy and thats when it all kicks off. 

 With action scenes with things blowing up left right and centre, his wife will NOT DIE!!!! And I mean she won't ... she's a machine no matter how hard you fight her she always gets back up. This rebook is one to watch. 

Moving on... again set in the future and also a Graphic Novel Dredd had fans at the edge of their seats waiting just for a release date for the new and better film. Go back to 1995, The Lion King was out, girls and boys were not as yet chanting Girl Power and we still had only 5 channel TV in the UK for most people. The first Dredd was AWFUL!!!!! Honestly it is not worth watching!!!! IT WAS RUBBISH!!! The only thing to survive from the first film was the Helmet that Dredd wears. 

Mega city one

So when we heard that a new and more true to the graphic novel Dredd was coming out we could not wait!!!! The new Dredd was perfect down to way Mega City One looked, the story goes that after again Nuclear Fall out the only nation to have survived happened to be America, but only a certain section of America. I think Mega-City One spans from the east to the western sea board of America... I'm not sure... haven't read the novel for a while. Dredd had everything down to the gore and a very scary looking Lena Headly! Worth also watching in 3D!  

New reboots coming to the screen include Spiderman as the trilogy that ended in 2007 has been rebooted and rebranded as The Amazing Spiderman with it's narrative falling back to the original Marvel Comic Book narrative. The second film is out this autumn so that is something to look forward to. 

Other famous Comic Reboots come in the shape of Batman and Superman as well. 

Whatever we think of the reboot sometimes they are a good thing!  

Comic Books Taking Over The Big Screen

Whether it is Dredd or Captain America we all love a good Comic Book Film!

From the giants of the comic world  Marvel and DC, the humble comic has become a multi- million dollar industry over the years. With continuous films being released onto the big screen inviting us into a world full of superhero's and evil villains.

The other side of this world is a darker and more dangerous one with the Graphic Novel being turned into dark and gritty films with lots and lots of gore. Whether it be The Watchmen, Dredd, Sin City or V for Vendetta (a personal favourite of mine) there is a lot to choose from. There has been popular culture links to these films for years with protesters using the V mask as a way to make a stand against capitalism to of course the shocking and sad news of a guy shooting up a cinema dressed as a character from Batman.
Whether you love them or Loath them... Comic Book Films are here to stay with some big releases coming soon this autumn.

First of which is The Amazing Spiderman 2 (The Avenger not to feature in the 2012 blockbuster), a lot has changed since the first trilogy was made in 2003... no longer is  there a cheesy plot line but Spiderman has taken inspiration from it's comic book Hero counterparts such as Batman with the latest trilogy of Batman(not SPIDERMAN!) being directed by Christopher Nolan took Batman into the more gritty, darker side which the first of many Spiderman films has taken on that darkness with Rhys Iffans being the best baddy I have seen in years apart from the late and great Heath Ledger. So if you like a kid that has a split life... being a geek by day and a HUNK in a latex suit at night this might be the film for you. Expect more super villains with wired and wonderful powers that are set to cause chaos with only Spiderman himself to save the day.

Keeping with The Avengers two of the ultimate team are back flying (you'll get the pun in a minute) into action to save not only earth but also a far far away planet.
Thor and Captain America are doing their things on their own after leaving the team in the Avenger's Movie! Everyone loves the Avengers with Iron Man 3 pulling in audiences from around the world to see him in his last multi million dollar film... but Iron Man fans don't cry with rumours flying around of a second Avenger's film to grace our screens once more. But in the mean time we meet Thor back on Oden and see him once more trying to keep an eye on his brother Loki and he is reunited with his love played by Natalie Portman. As for Captain America is The Red Skull going to grace our screens once more??

X-Men also makes a return to the big screen with no Hugh Jackman this time (BOO!!!!) for the follow up to the 2011 X-men First Class. The plot line takes place in the future and also the past with locations spanning the length and breath of the world itself, this is set to be the 'Biggest' X- Men movie yet.


As for the future of the Comic Book films well it's written in the stars or on the page no doubt..

10 Years Of Harry Potter 2001- 2011

We all remember when the first Harry Potter book came out , the excitement of new fiction for children and adults who loved the world of magic. It was no surprise at the turn of the new century talks were flying around about the books being made into a series of films that turned out to be the best move Wanner Bros ever made.

The Trio- Harry, Hermione and Ron! 

Harry Potter is a world wide franchise with fans across the world still reliving their favourite moments from the past 10 years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not only with new talent springing into the lead roles of the trio of 'Misfits' that are Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson) and of course the main man himself Mr Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) as well as an all star cast of names including Dame Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes and Michael Gambon as Professor Dumbledore.

So what is so powerful about a boy who happens to be a wizard???

A very scary Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort! 

Well lets take a trip down memory lane.... Baby Harry Potter fought off the evil dark lord Voldemort and became an orphan. Professor Dumbledore leaves him with his wicked and also very human (Muggles)  Aunt and Uncle  who treat him as a slave locking him in the cupboard under the stairs. Harry doesn't realise he has magical powers until he goes to London Zoo and begins talking to a snake before locking his cousin in the enclosure after freeing said snake. Which to the Aunt and Uncles Horror and most of the zoo. Harry then starts to receive letters saying that he has been accepted at Hogwarts and from the age of 11 to 17 he will be taught everything he needs to know about magic... from defending himself to flying a broomstick.  It all sounds so simple.... but along the way Voldemort (or snake face to me- see the last part of the Goblet of Fire, Order of The Phoenix, Half Blood Prince and of course Deathly Hallows parts1&2) there will always be a spanner in the works, lets face it he is one of the most well known villains in the movie world now along with the fact that he is also a Teenager all this thrown in these movies have captivated audiences around the world for a decade.

1st Year Harry with beloved Owl Hedwig!

So Harry Potter was the first... then came Twilight and now The Hunger Games just to name a few teenage books that have smashed into the box office. But unlike the other two films just mentioned as The Hunger Games is still continuing on the big screen.. Twilight is not re-played on TV every summer holiday with the violent films (4 and up) being broadcast later due to fantasy violence which earned it a certificate 12A (First brought in for Batman by the BBFC) and a PG-13 in the USA.

Ralph, Helena, Michael and Daniel on set for Harry Potter 5

Harry Potter has also put Britain back on the map, with most of the film if not all being filmed in the UK rather than abroad... once the films finally finished in 2011, The studio was reopened just outside of Glamorous Watford North London so that everybody could see all the props and effects that went into making these films and also to fly on a broomstick which is amazing. I haven't been yet ... when I do i'll post a picture. As well as having a studio tour , Orlando in Florida at Universal Studios has a full section dedicated to the world of Harry Potter including a life size model of Hogwarts and Hogsmead where you have the chance to have a cool glass of butter bear, buy a wand and whatever else takes your fancy whilst there. With all this as well as millions of copies of the books still being sold and read... I can for see that in 30 maybe 40 years time Harry Potter will be remade as films again as they are timeless... I can also see the books becoming apart of the English Lessons in the UK as they are brilliant to read.


Whatever you may think of the Boy Who Lived .... Harry Potter is here to stay!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Swedish or USA version?

When the rumours spread that The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was going to be made by an american film company there was excitement but also some worries around whether the Americans would kill the original films as well as the book.

So when they announced that the lush Daniel Craig was going to play controversial journalist Mikeal Blomkvist in the US version of the film I got a little bit over excited as I love Daniel Craig as the Super Spy James Bond!!! And knew he would give a gritty and edgy performance in the film.

The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo or it's swedish name 'Man Som Hatar Kvinnor'  released in 2009 staring Prometheus's Noomi Rapace as Lisabeth Salander  the  main character in the film and books which in book 1 and in the first film of 3, follows the story of a young women who has been missing or presumed dead for over forty years. A discredited Journalist with the aid of Salander search for the young women and how she disappeared over forty years ago. 
The swedish films all follow the same narrative of the trilogy of books:
                                       The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo 
                                       The Girl Who Played With Fire 
                                       The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest 

Also known as Millennium 1,2 &3 (Millennium being the small magazine that Blomkvist runs with his long term Lover in Stockholm Sweden) the books have sold millions of copies world wide and are a brilliant read. 

Lisabeth Salander - AKA Rooney Mara

The swedish films are brilliant, although it is dubbed into English I still watch it with subtitles as not to spoil the actual film... I sometimes think with foreign films the best way to watch them is to watch them with the native language and not dubbed. With this film and having read the book I knew that the actual atheistic of  the film would be dark to co-inside with the narrative as it is a real thriller and a spine tingling one at that. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo deals with themes of sexual violence against women throughout and rape is one of the strongest themes as well as corruption in high powered business which in some ways is a sub plot as well as the lead female character's personality and metal health status. As you get to know Lisabeth you do question what may be wrong with her although Larson did actually hint that Lisabeth maybe Aspergers. Murder is also a key theme as well as  Religion which runs throughout the story. Not to give it away it has a great ending.. and I really don't want to spoil that!!! 

The Original 2009 screen adaptation of the book by Swedish Film Makers.

The Swedish films from what I have seen as I've only watched the first film due to the fact that I am still reading the books( I'm actually on the third and final book at the moment) are actually narrative wise true to the narrative of the books and do not divert from it. That was one of the problems I had with the American film is that they changed the ending which as a fan of the book I hated!!! 

The comparison between the two is actually quite substantial as you can tell that a american film company has remade or adapted the original film to cater to a US and UK audience. With a certificate of 18 in the UK or R in the USA the film still has that darkness to it in-keeping with the feel of the original swedish film and more importantly the book, but the opening sequences are different. In the Swedish film the opening sequence is of Blomkvist coming out of the court room after being sentenced to three months in prison from Slander and Libel charges against a successful but corrupted business owner whereas in the US version it focuses more on the main narrative arch of the missing women and the flowers sent to the old man who hires Blomkvist and Salander in the end to search for the missing women. The difference is that the main narrative arch is already presented to the audience before the introduction of the main two characters that we are going to follow throughout the film. Blomkvist is important to the film as much as Salander is in the sense that without these two characters and the dynamics they create the film let alone the story would not work... in a way these two are unlikely to work together but yet create a perfect balance on the page as well as the screen.  

The 2011 remake staring Daniel Craig

The changes in the scripts and narrative are subtle to notice between both versions, I do like the US version of the film, but it doesn't seem true to the book unlike the swedish version. I think there is some pride and care into how the Swedish made this film and out of respect for the author. The most annoying thing the US version did was to change the ending, I was really annoyed to why they did that, maybe it was to make it less complicated although the plot did unravel well and everything else was covered it was still in my opinion a lazy way to tie up the end of the film. In the book it is completely different and is more complicated but thats the beauty of it... it creates tension and to someone who has never read the book or watched the swedish version it is like the worst way to end the story as the tension builds and builds to a in my view deflating ending where you wonder what was the point in some ways to watching the whole film. It is just laziness to cut it short, I don't know if it was for running time reasons or whatever but a few more minutes to even jump in time in a script which you can do as I do it and most people in the industry do to tie it up with the ending it deserves! 

I can't really complain about the acting as both films have brilliant actors so I can't moan... really for me it was the narrative and respecting it. 

But see what you guys think... I do recommend to read the books first and then get the swedish films and then get the american one and see what you make of it. 

Challenge Failed

As you know from the previous post that I was going to attempt to watch a film in Belgium that was in French with Dutch subtitles ... well I hate to say this but I failed.

i'm sorry but from the clip I saw it looked like a drama based around a carer and a disabled guy, other than that I can't tell you what the narrative was and even if I tried to follow it I might not have followed as my dutch is no existent so instead of letting you guys down what I will do is come back with some awesome posts on films that i've watched.


Stay tuned there might be a review or a comparison on the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Films as I have got all the Swedish Films and the US version staring Daniel Craig. I did manage to finish the second book and are currently on the third ... I won't watch the films until I've read the book... I did this with Harry Potter... the exceptions where The Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games.





That'll be coming up soon until then it's goodbye from me....