Edge of Tomorrow ✪✪✪✪½

Watch. Enjoy. Repeat.

Opens in Australia:               5^TH June 2014

USA: 6^th June 2014                UK: 30^thMay 2014

Other Countries:                   Release Information

Science Fiction films have been a real disappointment over the past few years. The trailers look so good, and we can’t wait, and then we sit there in the cinema really excited, thinking this is going to be fun, oh please take me where I haven’t been before. Repeatedly the film is a big fail, clichéd, and dull, even when they star A-listers like Johnny Depp, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, and Matt Damon.

Then along comes Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow, and we’re not expecting much. The poster is schlock; it’s Tom Cruise (although I don’t dislike him, like everyone else seems to); Emily Blunt as a kick-ass soldier (what?), and it dives into the genre of “time slip” that is difficult to make work. It shouldn’t be amazingly good. But it is.

Edge of Tomorrow is one of the best sci-fi films in the past few years, and a lot of it has to do with a snappy script, thoughtful casting, and director Doug Liman’s (The Bourne Ultimatum) ability to balance character development, humor, and action.

Earth is losing the war against an alien invasion and Cage (Tom Cruise), a cowardly officer, finds himself at the front-line in a full-metal fighting suit that he doesn’t know how to use. Within minutes he dies on the beach battlefield and finds himself reset, back to the beginning of the day. Several more deaths, and he comes into contact with Rita (Emily Blunt), a tough as nails heroine with the nickname 'Heavy Metal Bitch.' She tells him, “Come back and find me, when you wake up.” That he does, and learns why he is continually repeating the day, and how he is the only one who can win the war for humanity.

It’s big. It’s daring. It’s a popcorn film that pays out with buckets of humor, excitement, and a clever angle on the well-tread time slip trope. Tom Cruise plays his role with wit and depth, and cross-cast Emily Blunt is his perfect match. Even though the story is about repeating a day, it doesn’t become, well… repetitive. The film is based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s 2004 book, All You Need Is Kill. It’s success proves that all you need for an enjoyable film is a good script, good casting, and good direction. Can Hollywood please take notice, and try just repeating this formula.

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"Marvel's" Thor The Dark World ★★★★

THE GODS ARE SMILING AND SO IS THE AUDIENCE

Opens in Australia: 31st October
USA: 8th November  UK: 30th October

Other Countries: Release Information

     Let’s face it, Thor (thanks to Chris Hemsworth) is the best looking hero of the Marvel film franchises, and the studio could just rest on that.  We girls would be happy.  However, not content to rest on a pretty face, they’ve taken the time to bring in the right crew to work on number two, Thor The Dark World. 
Christopher Yost (screenplay) has been head writer on many “Marvel” animations and contributed to the original Thor. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (screenplay) together wrote Captain America: The First Avenger and have just completed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and have also penned all three of The Narnia Chronicles.  Then you have Emmy®-winning director, Alan Taylor, who has worked on highly acclaimed shows like Sopranos, West Wing, Six Feet Under, Mad Men and, most recently, Game of Thrones.

Together, they’ve pulled off a worthy sequel, something very difficult to do in a franchise which has created such high expectations; achieving this by ensuring all the key ingredients from the origin story-humor, action, and realism while progressing the story line and character development.

We follow on from The Avengers’ “New York” conclusion where Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has returned to Asgard and his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in tow, to imprison his adopted brother for his misbehavior on Earth.  But, dealing with his wayward son is the least of Odin’s problems. An alignment of the Nine Realms (occurring once every 5,000 years) is imminent, and it will open a portal between the worlds-Earth being one of them. 

Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is attempting to forget Thor, whom she hasn’t seen for two years. While investigating an anomaly, created by the impending alignment, she is dragged into the dark world where she inadvertently reignites a war, waged thousands of years previously, between one of Asgard’s greatest adversaries, Malekith.

As leader of the dark elves, Malekith was defeated by Odin’s Father, but he returns to take advantage of the realm’s alignment to take over Asgard and cause havoc throughout the universe.  Thor must create unlikely alliances and defy his father to defeat Malekith and restore peace to the Realms and, of course, once again save Earth.

The worlds are beautifully imagined and created, heightening the realism.  The director, Taylor, and filmmakers created this authenticity while filming scenes as much as possible on location and creating enormous, realistic sets; some taking months at a time to build.  Natalie Portman felt the scale of the sets harkened back to a different filmmaking era and commented, “It’s really like the old days of cinema. You walk on to the set and you think ‘Wow, we’re making a movie’.”

True to previous “Marvel” films, the story line is again interwoven between one franchise and another, following on from The Avengers and leaving the door open for the next. There are guest cameos from the first film's characters and other Marvel characters, including an extremely amusing spot from Dr Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård)—remember he the only one who understood the Tesseract weapon in The Avengers? Of course, fans of Loki will not be disappointed with his role.  He may not be quite as princely and beautiful as Thor (pretty close, though), but he delivers all the best lines. 

It’s an extremely entertaining blockbuster movie which serves, also, to whet the appetite for the next installment, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  If the “notorious” Marvel credits scene inserts (two: one in the middle and one at the very end, so make sure you stay) are anything to go by, there are many more films to come. The Gods and the fans will be pleased.

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World War Z ★★★★

Zombies Rule Okay!

Opens in Australia: 20th June
Other Countries: Release Information

          Zombies are the new black. You know they’ve entered popular culture when a respected actor like Brad Pitt stars in and produces a Zombie film via his ‘Plan B’ production company. “Five years ago, I knew nothing about zombies,” says Pitt. “Now, I consider myself an expert.”

Once residing in the B-grade domain, where no mainstream author or filmmaker would dare to go less they lose their take-me-seriously badge, Zombies have become a big draw in entertainment. This year alone, we have Warm Bodies (a zombie love story), The World’s End’ (a comedy coming soon), the third season of the very gory ‘The Walking Dead’ (the highest rated show on cable television), and now the thriller drama ‘World War Z’.

           The film began as a post-apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks entitled ‘World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War’ using a multi-person, testimonial style. Director, Marc Forster comments, “The novel’s approach did not lend itself to a motion picture screenplay. We did try to follow the narrative of the book but found, having gone through the process, the dramatic tension was significantly diminished, at least in cinematic terms.”

       And there is tension aplenty, along with zombies who don’t shuffle aimlessly; these guys run faster than a cheetah. In fact the quip, “You don’t have to outrun a lion to survive, just the other guy” played through my mind as each victim was pursued.

           From almost the opening scenes in Philadelphia, we are hurled into the action with Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), an ex-UN worker who in his past worked in volatile, dangerous political situations. He’s since given up the peril to be with his family, Karin (Mireille Enos) and their two daughters.

          When a rapidly spreading, zombie virus takes over the world, Gerry is the guy called to escort an expert scientist into zombie territory to track down ‘Patient Zero’. First though the UN must rescue him and his family from the infected city of Philadelphia; no mean feat when there are thousands of zombies everywhere zombifying healthy people in seconds with one bite.

       Gerry must then leave his family behind at the UN Headquarters, now a ship off the coast of the US, and travel around the world following clues in the hope of finding an antidote. 

          There are certainly some edge of the seat, gut-churning moments as Gerry and his military escort experience some back-against-the-wall moments.

        The action is extreme and realistic and, surprisingly, was filmed in Glasgow which doubled for Philadelphia—the cities share similar architecture, some of which was augmented during post-production. Veteran second unit director Simon Crane who orchestrated much of the ‘World War Z’ mayhem, shares, “We crashed over 150 different cars. We crashed the garbage truck and slammed Brad’s Volvo into an ambulance and various other things. It was big scale. At least 80% of the vehicles were written off. We shut down blocks and blocks of Glasgow for controlled car crashes outside the main buildings.”

         The other stars of the film, the zombies, were as real-life as the un-dead get. Creating crowd scenes which included zombies called for its own logistical feat, says producer Ian Bryce, “If you have 500 extras that need to look a certain way, that’s an awful lot of people required to get them ready. We were shooting one day with the full extra count and I remember coming on to the set and you literally couldn’t move because of the size of the crew that was there to get everyone ready. And then a couple hours later we sent the zombies away for a little break as we were going to do something else just with Brad and a few other people and it was like the set became barren. It was hilarious.”

         ‘World War Z’ is not just a film for the zombie or horror fans, its solid script and performances will please most thriller and action fans. Brad Pitt, despite his huge star-persona, rarely appears in blockbuster films, tending to prefer dramatic indie roles worthy of his acting talents. Thanks to his solid portrayal of an ordinary man with, literally, the world on his shoulders ‘World War Z’ is lifted a notch above the average.

       It’s Brad Pitt versus the zombies and the winner this time is the cinema-goer.

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Star Trek Into Darkness ★★★★

BOLDLY GOING WHERE IT’S GONE BEFORE

Opens in Australia: 9^th May 2013; USA 15^th May; UK 9^th May

Other Countries: Release Information  

 

In forty-seven years since the launch of the original three-season series, ‘Star Trek’ has sparked five television series including an animation, eleven motion pictures and a fan base that continues to grow.  

 I grew up a trekkie. As a child of the sixties it was one of my favorite  shows. Then, oh joy, oh bliss, came ‘Star Trek Next Generation’ and all the fabulous follow-on series after and then the series of eighties and nineties movies.  In my previous life the company I owned even sponsored the eleven p.m. Thursday night series of ‘Star Trek Voyager.’  It was pretty cheap to run ads at that time of night.  So, this reboot was always on my must see list. 

The 2009 J.J. Abrams first ‘Star Trek’ reboot film was a hoot and despite my concerns after Abram’s ‘Lost’ series finale letdown, he managed to deliver a great start to the new series.  Also, too, was the fun of watching the new younger versions step into their iconic sixties characters. That guy who plays Doc really looks like the original doesn’t he?  So, I was bouncing in my seat for ‘Into Darkness’. 

In this voyage we are immediately thrown into a mission going wrong when, in order to save Spock, the crew must expose their existence to the primitive inhabitants of a planet; a no, no on the prime directive.  This sets up the exploration of the complex friendship between Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his First Officer Spock (Zachary Quinto).

Subsequently, Kirk is relieved of his duty and demoted to first officer on another ship and Spock (Zachary Quinto) is also re-assigned.  However, during a Star Fleet headquarters meeting they are attacked by a new super nemesis, mysterious intergalactic terrorist John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch).  Kirk is re-commissioned by Star Fleet Admiral (Peter Weller) to gather his original crew to take off in pursuit of the terrorist who has wreaked havoc and killed some of the nearest and dearest of Star Fleet.  The truth they discover when they find Harrison is not what they are expecting.

Returning to The Enterprise is the crew that brought it so viscerally to life in the original, Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, Simon Pegg as Chief Engineer “Scotty” Scott, Zoe Saldana as Communications Officer Uhura, John Cho as Helmsman Hikaru Sulu, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov and Bruce Greenwood as Admiral Christopher Pike.

Whilst it is an enjoyable blockbuster, it didn’t beam me up as I’d hoped.  Some of it felt like a bunch of scenes we have seen before mashed together; one I think taken from the 1982 ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’ but with a reversal of characters.

Gene Rodenberry’s (the original creator of Star Trek) vision of the future was one of optimism and hope.  He created Star Trek to explore charged political topics such as racism, greed, and violence and as an exemplar of how much is achieved when we work together for the betterment of all and not just expansion of power. He had an unusual optimism of the future considering the cold-war, nuclear fearful era in which he lived.

I think it is the lack of optimism where the problem lies for me in ‘Into Darkness’.  Whilst there is much to enjoy here and most Trekkies and sci-fi buffs will revel in it, for me it is missing that special ingredient.  However, regardless it’s still a must see because let’s face it any Star Trek is better than no Star Trek. 

 Are you a trekkie and what do you think of the reboot franchise?

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Beautiful Creatures ★★★★

LOVE IS MAGICAL

  

 

 

 

Have you noticed there is a lot of supernatural loving going on lately at the cinema? Every trailer before the screening of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES was for a Fantasy-Romance film with either zombies, vampires or aliens.  Of course, it’s the story of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for the modern age.   And why not?  Star-crossed lovers, fighting to be together against all reason and parental approval, makes for a great story.   If it’s good enough for the mythical Gods of Greece, then it is good enough for the electronic-gadgetry-toting youth of today.

This year in book and film, it is going to be hard to avoid this genre, and Beautiful Creatures is a good example (please note Twilight producers) of how to make an entertaining, authentic film which can please fans of supernatural love as well as the non-converted.  The New York Times bestselling book of the same name is the first in the series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

 

Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich), a high school senior wants nothing more than to escape the Southern town of Gatlin and bid adieu to his Father who has withdrawn from life since the sudden death of his Mother.   For months he has dreamed of a strange, dark-haired girl he has never met.   Arriving suddenly in his class is a new girl, Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), looking a lot like his dream sweetheart.  She is immediately ostracized, as she is the niece of Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons), the reclusive owner of Ravenwood Manor who most townsfolk believe is in cahoots with the devil.  Let’s face it, people who live in those big, creepy mansions usually are.

Mrs. Lincoln (Emma Thompson), mother of Ethan’s best friend is adamant that Lena must be banished from the town and spends a good deal of time pointing fingers and rallying the townsfolk against the young girl.

Despite strange happenings that surround Lena, and her spurning of his advances, Ethan ardently pursues her.    Lena reveals that she is a Caster, as is her Uncle, and each Caster has a special power.   On her sixteenth birthday Lena will discover which side she will practice her Casting based on her true inner self. Will she be chosen for the much more charming Light or the evil-doing Dark?  The entire clan, including Lena, fear she will be taken by the Dark which will prove to be very bad for the human race.  There’s also a curse hanging over Lena’s family and she and Ethan face many spells and dangers and even their love may prove fatal.

Beautiful Creatures is a stylish story, a cut above the Twilight Saga’s progressively more outlandish portrayals. There is a wit in the script and Thompson and Irons, who could have lapsed into overdramatics, rein it in enough to lend a sophistication that is usually lacking in these supernatural tales. 

Whilst I am not an urban-fantasy fan, I certainly can appreciate a story well-told.  And as the great man said himself, “a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” This love story smells of success and with four more books ,no doubt the sequels will be gracing our screens in the years to come.   If they’re as good as this, we are definitely on the side of Light.

 

 

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Zero Dark Thirty ★★★★★

A PICTURE TELLS A REMARKABLE STORY

 

 

Australia: 31st January 2013; USA 11thJanuary UK 25th January

Other Countries: Release Information

 

 

Zero Dark Thirty is the story behind ‘that’ news photo.  You know the one with Obama, his advisors, Vice President Biden and Hillary Clinton, sitting in a room staring at live feed of the Osama bin Laden capture mission.  Hillary’s hand covers her mouth in what looks like shock. 
           Their looks haunted me—what were they seeing?  Thanks to Oscar®-winning creative duo Director Kathryn Bigelow and producer and screenwriter Mark Boal we now know.  They were watching the culmination of a hell of a pursuit and capture mission spanning almost ten years; a mission that was mostly only successful thanks to a small team of CIA operatives.
 

 

The quest to tell the story of Zero Dark Thirty would eventually lead Bigelow and Boal into their own labyrinthine encounter with secretiveness and intense production challenges during their six years of sourcing and reporting the story for accuracy.

 

“This thing is pretty handmade,” says Boal, “and it’s gone through two iterations. It began six years ago as a movie about the failure to capture bin Laden in Tora Bora. I spent a few years on that, researching and writing, and we were in pre-production of that film by 2011, with scouts in Romania. Then, more or less out of the blue, bin Laden was killed, and that film became ancient history. So I had to start again.”

Along with the audience, the central character of the story, Maya (Jessica Chastain), is parachuted into the hunt for bin Laden with the unsettling experience of an “enhanced interrogation” session of an Al Qaeda detainee. Maya mirrors the audience’s mixed emotions on these interrogations. They are tough to watch. 

 

When it came to shooting these sequences, Bigelow took a leap far outside her comfort zone. “As a human being I wanted to cover my eyes, but as a filmmaker, I felt a responsibility to document and bear witness,” she says. “I felt I had to overcome my discomfort for the sake of telling the story.”

Maya begins to believe that one man, Abu Ahmed, a shadowy figure mentioned by many of the interrogated captives, is the key to bin Ladin’s location.  However, after so many false leads over the years, Maya is the only person who still firmly believes in her theory. 

The story follows a small group of agents through the years and peeks behind the terrorist news headlines as al-Qaeda strikes at the US and even the team attempting to track him. It is a dangerous and dirty game.  The last quarter of the film is a unique visceral experience; taut and horrific in its authenticity, as the SEAL team breaches the bin Laden compound accomplishing the historic conclusion.
 

The film has garnered great controversy and criticism over its torture scenes but Boal responds. “Putting it mildly, this is an extremely controversial subject.  I wanted to try to capture the complexity of the situation, morally and psychologically. It’s not an aesthetic goal of the film to settle scores, or end the debate about torture’s efficacy. But it was part of the story and we needed to include it.  The goal was to portray the events vividly and to make them real for the audience.”

“On the other hand,” he says, “towards the end of the film, we see that, ultimately, bin Laden’s compound was found not through any of these techniques, but through a combination of bribery, traditional spy work and electronic surveillance.

In case you’re wondering, Zero Dark Thirty is military jargon for the dark of night, as well as the moment—12:30 a.m.—when the Navy SEALs first stepped foot on the Osama compound.  It's a moment captured in 'that' photo that will leave history to dictate the true ramifications.  And it sure makes a remarkable movie.

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ★★★★

THE ADVENTURE OVERFLOWETHS

Australia: 26th December, 2012; USA 14th December UK 13th December
Other Countries: Release Dates

 

Its two hours and forty-sixminutes and, I suspect, therein lays the mixed reviews.  It’s a matter of patience.  My ten year old harsh critic commented positively on the slow beginning, filled with—perish the indulgence—character building, “It’s a three hour film they needed the time to warm up the story.”

Once warmed up though it takes off like a bat troll out of hell. And whether you are a LORD OF THE RINGS fan or, like me (having always thought the films were slightly geeky) not seen all the previous trilogy, this film will thrill both parties.

As the first feature film to utilize state-of-the-art digital cameras to record the action in 3D at 48 frames per second (fps) releasing in High Frame Rate 3D (HFR 3D), Director Peter Jackson has taken a leap into a new cinematic visual experience.  In some action sequences it truly felt like a roller-coaster ride with the crisp beautiful images.  And wait for the fabulous scene where Bilbo Baggins meets the big-eyed neurotic Gollum (Andy Serkis). It looks so real it is hard to believe there isn’t an agent out there for Gollum and mystical creatures.  As most of the trolls and orcs are English accented I imagined them at the pub moaning how the Troll and Magical Creatures Acting Union needed to strike during the next filming to negotiate more gold rings and quality rat meat.

Calling this film an epic adventure is akin to calling Mount Everest just a mountain.  Even the production notes for the film run to eighty-six pages.  But it’s the story that is enthralling, and it begins with elderly hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) recounting to his nephew Frodo  (Elijah Wood) an adventure, sixty years prior. It began with Wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) arriving at his door followed by thirteen dwarves invading his home and wolfing down his food as they plan how best to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome Dragon Smaug who has settled in nicely with all their gold.

Young Bilbo (Martin Freeman) is not an adventurous hobbit, personifying the average guy who doesn’t rush out with sword in hand the minute he hears there’s a troll about or fling himself hairy-footed into danger for fun.  Overcoming his trepidation, he joins the dwarves led by legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) whose Father had once been King of the dwarves until slain by an Orc war-chief.  Their plan is to return to Erebor believing that the dragon may have left. 

Along the way they face one daring encounter after another with all manner of magical creatures: Orcs, Trolls, Elves and more; all in incredible Middle Earth settings, brought to life convincingly by a team of roughly 350 people at Weta Digital.

Stone Street Studios, Peter Jackson’s production facilities in Miramar, New Zealand, has nearly tripled in size and capabilities since the days when he and his team made THE LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy in a converted paint factory. Building the world of THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY took up the whole of the eight-acre site, encompassing six stages, including the two state-of-the-art stages built specifically for the new Trilogy. It would also involve the construction of nearly 100 sets, the fabrication of thousands of pieces of clothing, prosthetics, wigs, props, and weapons, and take the company from the soundstages in Miramar off to spectacular landscapes across both islands of NewZealand.
 

 

Jackson tells more of a story than was written in Tolkien’s beloved book which has been in print constantly for seventy-five years. The story has been fleshed out from the appendices of the final volume of The Lord of the Rings. “The Hobbit was almost a lifetime’s work for Tolkien,” Jackson attests.  “And a lot of the ideas he had for fleshing out the story—the environment and the politics of the time—are all there.  What became clear to us is that the story has the ability to expand yet still be The Hobbit that everybody knows and loves. So that's what we did, using his notes very much as our blueprint.”

Whether Peter Jackson has overstepped the boundaries with this much loved book will be judged at the box-office.  It wasn’t a film I looked forward to seeing and yet I find myself now counted amongst the fandom of Middle Earth.   It may be a slow warm up but once its boiling most will find that Jackson’s THE HOBBIT has a plot that overflows in an exhilarating way.
 

 

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Skyfall ★★★★½

NOBODY DOES IT BETTER

Australia: 22nd November, 2012; USA 9th November UK 26th October

Other Countries: Release Dates
 

 

My poor husband suffered terribly after watching Skyfall. He doesn’t normally eat popcorn as his stomach is not a fan but a kindly friend gave us a huge bucket. So by the time the initial chase sequence was over and the iconic opening credits montage had begun, he’d scoffed half the bucket. Supposedly, he was so engrossed and heady from the action he didn’t know what he was doing.

A small price to pay one would say in the viewing of what may, according to the fans, or may not be, according to some critics, the greatest Bond film yet. Pulling in $60 million in seven days in the UK, it has just beaten out the previous record-holder, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2’. This year being the 50^th anniversary of the Bond films, and Skyfall the twenty-third in the series, the makers wanted to bring all the key Bond elements together to make the longest-running film franchise in history as exciting today as it was in 1962.

So we have the breathtaking opening chase scene—best watched away from the popcorn bucket—the gorgeous women, the impossible escapes, the menacing villain and the suave sophistication that is only James Bond. Interestingly enough, the screen-writing team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, veterans of Bond films, along with Academy Award®-winner John Logan must have decided that technology is so yesterday. It’s a bold move that Bond is not delivered his usual gadgetry but simply supplied with a gun and a ‘radio’ via his new young upstart Quartermaster Q (Ben Whishaw).
 

Despair not as the film sets out to prove that a Bond film’s greatness requires only James Bond, a nemesis and action. In fact we are reminded throughout that he may be older, less fit, battle-scarred and possibly redundant, yet with his experience nobody does it better.

After the opening chase where things go terribly wrong, Bond (Daniel Craig) is presumed dead. Even worse, he and fellow agent Eve (Naomie Harris) have allowed key information to fall into enemy hands. She is relegated to a desk job and James takes a secret break. When an unknown terrorist wreaks random havoc by bombing MI6, releasing secret agents identities on the internet, and targeting M (Judi Dench) with threatening messages, Bond returns. M’s career is also in danger from Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) who is sent in to manage her out of her job.
 

 

Bond tracks the terrorist to Shanghai and the action is paused for an interlude with the stunning Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe) wearing a dress to die for. She is the girlfriend of Silva (Javier Bardem), the mastermind behind the attacks and the unstoppable techno savvy villain out to seek revenge.

But a Bond film is all about the action and breathtaking stunts. Javier Bardem describes watching Craig take on the role: “There is some physicality to my role but of course mine compared to Daniel’s was nothing. And he does the action scenes so easily. From the outside, watching him, I was thinking, ‘If I were you, I wouldn’t be doing that!’” Bardem laughs.

Stunt Coordinator Gary Powell, appreciates the advance in digital technology and computer graphics, but prefers Bond action to be real. He says, “Though the opening sequence lasts only twelve minutes on screen, it took three months of rehearsals and two months of filming to produce. Standing on top of a train, travelling at 50 kilometers per hour, fighting with Ola Rapace going over a bridge, was probably a stand out moment.”

The humour and wit is back, as well as an iconic car—which had the audience applauding. If there was ever a movie to see in the cinema it is ‘Skyfall’. You don’t hit fifty looking this good by resting on your laurels. Buckle up, put the popcorn under the seat until you feel it’s safe—you’ll know when—and join the world in their love affair with this iconic character who still has what it takes to kill and thrill.

 

 

What is your favourite Bond film and favourite theme song? 

 

 

Official Site  http://www.jamesbondskyfall.com.au/site/

 

 

 

 

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Killing Them Softly ★ ★ ★ ★

It's a Hard Business

 

Australia: 11th October, 2012; USA 30th November UK 21st September

Other Countries: Release Dates

There is nothing soft about the way people die in KILLING THEM SOFTLY.  In the same vein as the recent SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS, and cult classic PULP FICTION, if you are squeamish with on-screen blood and brutal killings then you may want to drag out THE GODFATHER instead—which seems so terribly mild these days.

In fact, it seems the violence in films has increased dramatically in the past few years and you can’t help wondering if it is art reflecting life or vice versa.  How can a violent assault on a racketeer, or killing after killing of not so innocent victims be entertaining even enlightening? 
Yet, KILLING THEM SOFTLY, written for the screen and directed by Andrew Dominik, certainly gives you an insight into the notion that even the bad guys are taking a hit (excuse the  pun) as a result of the economic downturn.

Based on the George V. Higgins novel, ‘Cogan’s Trade’, we enter the world of underworld enforcer Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt).  He’s the go-to guy when you want somebody taught a “life” lesson or removed from the playing field.

Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta) has the misfortune of having his mob poker game robbed by two of the dumbest thieves you will ever meet Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn).  Imagine that, for gloves for the heist, Russell brings over-sized bright yellow washing up numbers.  Yep, say no more.  And most of the time they are either stoned, drunk or bringing themselves into harm’s way from sheer stupidity. 

The Mob is clearly a professional corporation, with Richard Jenkins (the driver) as the messenger, who brings in Jackie to investigate the robbery and dispense justice.  He in turn brings in Mickey (James Gandolfini) an esteemed hit-man.  It’s a cat and mouse game with the very cool Jackie becoming increasingly frustrated with the idiocy of hit-men, the mob and the ignorant heist guys.

It’s funny and gritty, and although a little unwieldy in parts, the corporate suffering financial constraints concept—albeit the mob—and the cool manner in which Cogan runs his enforcer business—as if he is delivering newspapers instead of death—makes a riveting story.

 

 

 

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Looper ★ ★ ★ ★

TIME TRAVEL FOR THE THINKING-MAN

Australia: 27th October, 2012 USA: 28th September, 2012; UK: 28th October 2012
Other Countries: Release Dates

 

      

Time travel is a fascinating subject.  The "what ifs" play with your mind, like going back to alter your future and the subsequent consequences. The most exciting ideas they pose are the difficult moral questions. If you had the chance to kill Hitler as a child, would you? Could you stare into the eyes of an innocent child and pull the gun trigger?

Then there’s the question of knowing your own timeline.  How would you live your life if you knew you had thirty years to live; no more, no less? Your choices at say twenty-five may look rather foolish when you’re fifty-five. 

  ‘Looper’, a very original film from Director and screenwriter Rian Johnson poses these very questions in an intelligent and thought-provoking way.  When you read the synopsis for Looper it sounds incredibly confusing but in reality it’s a simple idea.  Time travel in 2074 is invented and outlawed but still used by the mob to remove targets whose bodies are difficult to hide. So they send back their victims thirty years to a designated spot at an exact time, hands tied and their heads covered in a sack.  Waiting for them is a Looper, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), to kill them instantly with a blunderbuss and then dispose of their body. 

 

Loopers are paid very well for their services and run by an underworld boss, Abe (Jeff Daniels).  The only downside of a Looper’s life is that eventually the mob will ‘close the loop’ on them.  They will send back the Looper’s self from the future to he killed by his thirty-year younger version, who will be paid handsomely, after which he retires to live the rest of his thirty years knowing one day his time will come. 

If you dare ‘let your loop run’, which means letting your older self get away, then you are in a whole load of trouble.  This is demonstrated in a particularly nasty sequence when a fellow Looper Seth (Paul Dano) is tortured, with his older self’s body instantly reflecting the impact of his younger self’s punishment.  Think healed limb severing and you have the picture.

When Joe’s older self (Bruce Willis) escapes execution by his younger self, we discover he is on a mission.  He must find the 2044 child version of a powerful gangster nicknamed ‘The Rainman’ in order to save the future, or at least his future.   This search brings younger Joe into contact with Sarah (Emily Blunt) living on a peaceful farm with her son Cid.  It seems all roads will lead to this farm and it is here that the future will be determined.

A couple of things will strike you in this film: Joseph Gordon Levitt, who plays the younger version of Bruce Willis’s Joe, look very alike, despite being very different.  In fact, it’s uncanny and you will keep marvelling at Gordon-Levitt’s Willis-like mannerisms.  Secondly the crazy flying car chases that you normally find in these sci-fi films are not the centrepiece of the story. 

   “I had written the younger part for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who, besides being my favorite actor, is also a good friend,” says Johnson.  “When the possibility of Bruce Willis to play the older Joe presented itself, I got so excited because Bruce is such a good actor and was so right for the part in so many ways.  It raised a problem, though, because they really look nothing like each other.  We had to find a way to bridge the gap, and the solution was two-fold.” 

“The first thing was makeup,” Johnson continues.  “Joseph Gordon-Levitt went through nearly three hours of makeup and prosthetics every single morning to adjust his nose, his upper lip and his lower lip.  There was no way we were going to make him look like a young Bruce Willis, but we decided we’d pick a couple of key features and alter them just enough to give the audience something to grab onto so they could decide to go with it.”

“The other part – 90 percent of it – is Joe’s performance,” says Johnson.  “It’s incredible to watch – he doesn’t imitate Bruce, he creates a character that feels like a younger Bruce.  He’s doing a very specific voice and he took on a lot of Bruce’s mannerisms.  Its great acting, and a pretty phenomenal thing to see come to life.”

‘Looper’ may not appeal to those who love their sci-fi action-packed.  There are thinking-man moments which require some patience.  But your patience will be rewarded with this haunting piece of cinema and storytelling which is certainly a cut above anything we’ve seen in recent time-line. 

 

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