Indie Movie Review - The Living Wake

The Living Wake is an indie movie directed by Sol Tyyon. Set on the last day in the life of self-professed genius K. Roth Binew (Mike O’Connell), it’s a black comedy about his efforts to finally find what his father had promised to tell him but hadn’t stayed around long enough to impart – the “brief but powerful monologue” that would encompass the whole meaning of existence. Aided by his one and only friend, Mills (Jesse Eisenberg), who dotes on his every word, he sets off on his last day of life to accomplish a list that will lead him to enlightenment. Or something like that.

This movie is often insane, frequently funny and usually very weird. O’Connellbrilliantly portrays a larger-than-life character who can’t understand why the rest of the world doesn’t see things his way; Eisenberg’s performance as the much quieter but perhaps even weirder Mills is quite exceptional. The humour doesn’t always work, particularly towards the end where events seem to drag a bit, but there’s some sparkling wordplay early on and a few hilarious situations.

As it’s an indie movie I’m not sure if it’s been officially rated, but I’d guess it would be a 12A (PG-13) – there are a few adult situations and a bit of a preoccupation with a particular expletive (not the F word). The film really didn’t need the swearing to be funny, in fact I’m sure it would have been funnier without it. The humour often stems from the sheer craziness of the characters and situations, and while I don’t think this film would appeal to everyone, I would think most people would end up laughing quite a bit.

It’s not all comedy though, there are a few quite tender moments that tend to blindside you as they come out of nowhere. The friendship between Binew and Mills, which seems like master and servant much of the time, turns out to be quite a close mutually affectionate friendship. Relations with family, neighbours and acquaintances, though usually bizarre, will quite often strike a chord with viewers.

Production-wise it’s nicely filmed, with a small number of locations used to great effect. The music (mainly violin-led) is good and the sound quality is fine, though just once or twice it was difficult to catch what a couple of characters were saying. Original music was by Carter Little and Mike O’Connell, while Scott Miller oversaw the cinematography. (I have to mention that The Living Wake had one of the strangest song and dance routines in the history of film-making!)

The Living Wake is certainly an unusual film; it’s quirky and creative, and apart from being a bit too slow in the final sequence thoroughly entertaining. If you like movies that are a bit outside the mainstream, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy this one.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

The Pure Hell of St Trinian's (1960)

George Cole (Flash Harry), Joyce Grenfell (Sergeant Ruby Gates) and Lloyd Lamble (Superintendent Samuel Kemp-Bird) are back along with a new set of girls and a few new cast members. The film starts with St Trinian's being burnt to the ground - by the girls, of course, and deliberately... of course. A funny courtroom sequence follows but thanks to one of the sixth formers catching the judge's eye, a proposition by psychologist Professor Canford (Cecil Parker) and headmistress Miss Harker-Parker (Irene Handl) to reform the school is chosen over tougher punishment - much to the chagrin of the Ministry of Education. Handl is delightfully dotty and Parker performs well, while as in The Belles of St Trinian's, Sid James is rather wasted.

In an effort to prove reform is genuinely taking place, Professor Canford decides to put on a cultural exhibition at the school. The results are predictably awful, but the new minister (played by John Le Mesurier) thinks the report is simply based on out of date ideas, and plans for the girls to go on a cultural holiday to the islands of Greece is approved. However the professor doesn't realise that his sleazy benefactor Alphonse O'Reilly (Sid James) has a different destination in mind, and much more neffarious purposes planned for the girls...

With the action switching from London to the Middle East, with Flash Harry, Sergeant Gates, Professor Canford, two men from the ministry of education, the forth form (Britain's fiercest fighting force) and even the British army involved in a rescure operation, the action is fast and furious. It's not quite as good as the first two movies, but still a lot of fun.

See also:

Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957)

The Belles of St Trinian's (1954)

 

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957)

The girls are back - well, different girls - as St Trinian's threatens international relations.  Flash Harry is busy setting up the "St Trinian's Marriage Bureau", with an Italian prince highly interested in... well, all the girls really.  There's a snag though - he wants to meet them before the school term finishes.  The only way this can happen is for St Trinian's to win a competition run by UNESCO which they surely havne't got a hope in hell of doing... or have they?

Meanwhile one of the girl's father has just pulled a diamond robery and gone to the school to hide, only to end up having to disguise himself as the new headmistress.  Miss Fritton is behind bars, and the army are currently trying to keep the school in order - and failing, of course.

There's a lot going on in Blue Murder at St Trinian's, which in some ways eclipses The Belles of St Trinian's though you do feel sometimes that they're simply trying to cram too much into it.  With Alastair Sims only making a fleeting appearance, George Cole takes centre stage along with Joyce Grenfell and Terry Thomas - all of whom have some very funny scenes.  The girls are funny most of the time and there's some great support by Richard Wattis as Manton Bassett, the hapless civil servant who thinks he's got rid of his associations with the school but ends up with them again; Michael Ripper is very funny as Eric, the lift man at the ministry who's forced to take charge of the girls' foreign trip; Terry Scott has a short but memorable role as a police officer.

It's frequently funny and while it lags in a couple of places, the performances make up for that. To be honest I can't really make up my mind whether I liked it more or less than the first film... but as I liked both, that doesn't particularly matter!

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

The Belles of St Trinian's (1954)

The first of the movies about the naughty schoolgirls of St Trinian's has aged pretty well.  The plot centres around the efforts of Mrs Fritton (played by Alastair Sims) to raise enough money to keep the school going.  It helps that one of her new students, Fatima, is the daughter of a fabulously wealthy sheikh, and that his horse, Arab Boy, seems a cert for the big race coming up... only trouble is, her girls are almost as devious as Millicent Fritton herself, so while the fourth formers are trying to aid her plan (for their own benefit of course), the sixth formers have joined forces with Millicent's dodgy brother Clarence (also played by Sims) to knobble Arab Boy and collect the winnings on another horse instead...  A police woman (played by Joyce Grenfell) is recruited (very reluctantly) to find out just what's going on in the school from hell, while "Flash Harry" (George Cole) is trying to make money from the girls, Miss Fritton, and basically anyone within a twenty mile radius of the school...

While it's a bit overused, the horrified reaction of all and sundry to the very mention of the dreaded St Trinian's is funny throughout the film.  There are many scenes in the film that will have you laughing; it's very daft and not in the least bit ashamed of admitting it.  All the cast are good, George Cole is wonderfully shifty as Flash Harry, no-one has ever quite done goofy like Joyce Grenfell, and Alastair Sims is simply marvellous.  The set pieces work well and the pacing is good, with never a dull moment really.  Perhaps the only real disappointment in this film was the strangely subdued performance of Sid James - he just played a straight role, which really didn't suit him.

Despite the fact that I was pleasantly surprised by the 2007 remake of St Trinian's, the sheer mayhem of The Belles of St Trinian's has a chaotic charm that captivates audiences over half a century after its release.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Movie Review - Clash of the Titans (2010)

Greek Mythology has provided a rich vein of material for filmmakers over the years, and Clash of the Titans is one of the most memorable.  Did it need to be remade though?  Replacing Ray Harryhausen’s masterful stop-motion creature effects with CGI was always going to be a dubious move for fans of the original, while the tendency of blockbusters to have lots of action but little else is a permanent danger.

Though I love the original and tend to think that this was a case of style over substance, I have to admit that the movie did try.  It is of course the tale of Perseus, half-son of Zeus, and his fight against the Gods.   His origin is uncertain as at the start of the movie he’s found by a fisherman, floating in a coffin along with his dead mother.  He grows up as a fisherman, but experiences the wrath of Hades when warriors from Argos destroy a statue of Zeus – resulting also in the death of Perseus’ adopted family, which makes Perseus feel less than friendly towards the gods in general and Hades in particular.

Meanwhile in Olympus, things aren’t going so well for Zeus and his buddies either.   Humans aren’t giving them the love and worship they need, but while wondering what to do about this Hades turns up and encourages causing chaos and death – things he’s learned to live off since being tricked by Zeus into being god of the underworld instead of partying with the others on Olympus.  Feigning a desire to help Zeus, he gains permission to unleash hell on earth.

Eventually Perseus finds out about his heritage from a mysterious, ageless woman called Io, but first refuses to believe it, then refuses to accept it.  His battle to accept what he really is comes across quite well – one of the few genuine attempts at characterisation there is here.  Basically what we have otherwise is a succession of battles with impressive CGI creatures leading to a conclusion where Perseus must face the Krakon, which is supposed to be invincible – even gods can’t beat it.

The action sequences are done well enough and the visual effects are certainly impressive.  In terms of the performances, it’s all pretty solid; Sam Worthington basically reprises his role from Avatar as a fish out of water but determined to do his best anyway; Gemma Arterton is vaguely annoying as Io, but her character more or less works to give an added dimension to proceedings.  Both Liam Neeson and Ralph Feinnes exude charisma as the brothers Zeus and Hades; two sides of the same coin really. 

There is some attempt made to make the characters interesting, with frightened rookies, embittered veterans and a couple of hunters making up the band that travel with Perseus and Io; however the constant battles leave little time for creating characters that viewers are actually going to care about.  The final battle seemed a bit too easy considering that it was against an “invincible” beast.  The music score by Ramin Djawadi wasn’t bad but it suffered from the same problem as the feel in general – it tried to hard to create a feeling of being epic, and thus didn’t quite achieve it.

I guess Clash of the Titans was a bit better than I thought it would be, but it still suffers from blockbuster syndrome.  A little more character development and a little less action would have made it a better film.  Still, it’s worth watching.  (I didn’t see it in 3D – not sure if that would have made much difference.)  There’s a smattering of humour;  one of my favourite parts is where the old soldier Solon draws his bow in Medusa’s lair, sees that he’s standing next to a stone statue of someone in exactly the same pose, and mutters “not exactly confidence inspiring...”.  Such moments are few and far between though.

A side-effect of watching this is that I now want to watch the great Ray Harryhausen movies again – it’s so long since I’ve seen the 1981 version of Clash of the Titans that I can’t really make a meaningful comparison between the two versions.

Quotes:

Spyros: One day, somebody's got to make a stand. One day, somebody's got to say enough...

Perseus: If I do this, I do it as a man.

Draco: But you are not JUST a man!

Hades: I have watched from the underworld... it is time for the mortals to pay!

Hades: You have insulted forces beyond your comprehension...

Io: Perseus, I've watched over you for a long time now. I've always been there...

Zeus: You may not wish to be a god, but after what you've done hundreds will worship you. Look after them. Treat them better than we could. And if you insist on continuing this mundane human existence, I'll not have you do it alone. You're the son of Zeus, after all!

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Compilation of my FanFest 2010 Coverage

I've done quite a few posts on this, so here they all are for easy reference:

FanFest 2010 - Press Conference with Ray Harryhausen

FanFest 2010 - "For Your Eyes Only" Panel Q&A

FanFest 2010 - Q&A Session with Special Effects Guru Steve Begg

FanFest 2010 - Costumes on Diplay

FanFest 2010 - Props on Display - 1

FanFest 2010 - The Lowdown

Movie Reviews by CaptainD at FanFest 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

FanFest 2010 - Press Conference with Ray Harryhausen

Living legend Ray Harryhausen was there for a press conference, where my shiny press pass got me in before normal visitors (hehe).  Various questions were asked about what he thought the future of stop-motion animation was, what he thought of the remake of Clash of the Titans (he hadn't seen it), etc.  The main thrust of this press conference, however, was a special announcement - that the London Film Museum is going to have a new exhibition, starting 29th June 2010 (on which day Ray turns 90), entitled:

Ray Harryhausen - Myths and Legends.

Models, artwork and storyboards will make up the bulk of the exhibition, which will run for approximately a year.  This will definitely be one worth seeing.

I learned a few things I didn't know about Harryhausen's work - of course we all know that he did the creature effects for a number of films, notably Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts; what I didn't realise was that he always worked alone, so every effect you see was completely created by Ray.  Also it had never occurred to me that with his films, the creatures and action sequences involving them were created first - the script was woven around those scenes afterwards!

Ray Harryhausen with his biographer Tony Dalton (sorry I couldn't get a better photo)



One of the skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts - only a few inches high, but still terrifying!



The skeletons as we know them from the movie...

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

FanFest 2010 - "For Your Eyes Only" Panel Q&A

No Roger Moore unfortunately, but three cast members from the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only regaled the audience with tales of what happened in production for that film.

John Wyman (Erich Kriegler), Alkis Kritikos (Santos) and Jack Klaff (Apostis) made up the panel.

John Wyman recounted how in one fight scene, the props were set up wrongly so when he picked up a stone slab to throw at Bond, he ended up nearly picking up the whole set. Alkis Kirikos had a scene where he was marching Bond in front of him with a gun pointed at his back - Roger Moore, being a bit of a prankster, had hidden the gun. However when the film started rolling Alkis didn't want to admit that he'd not got the gun, so improvised and used his fingers - because his hand was hidden from view the whole time, that scene is the one that was used for the film! Jack Klaff, meanwhile, had real-life horror in his death scene when a local snake came to visit and was only centimetres away from him - he was told afterwards that death would have been slow, agonising and certain, with no antidote in existence - a comforting thought! He also has a fear of snakes, so top marks for professionalism that he got on with it and shot the scene straight after coming face to face with one...

He never found out who did it, but John Wyman had other prop troubles in this film - he motorbike that weighed only a few pounds in the studio had been replaced by a much heavier one for the scene where he throws the bike down the mountain. It nearly killed him to pick it up and chuck it in front of him, but again, with the camera rolling he refused to admit that something was wrong...

Jack recounted how a local monastery refused to be in the picture and to that end was covered with Greek flags, resulting in part of the set needing to be rebuilt back at Pinewood Studios and scenes re-shot. For 30 years Jack thought this was because James Bond was thought to be the devil, but Alkis said it was because they had dibs on all tourist photography in the area and hadn't been paid anything by the studio. Did Jack Klaff really only find out the truth at FanFest? Who knows... but it made for entertaining banter.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Yippee!

My screener of The Living Wake has arrived! :-D

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

FanFest 2010 - Q&A Session with Special Effects Guru Steve Begg

Steve Begg is a visual effects supervisor who started out working with Gerry Anderson, particularly on Terrahawks (which he described as a wrongly maligned show, but I remember loving it as a child!).  He showed various photos of various vehicle models used in the show, and explained how many techniques that were used in the making of Terrahawks were still in use when Casino Royale was made (presumably they are still being used even today).  Casino Royale is possibly the most famous film he worked on, and a number of scenes were shown before and after backgrounds were added etc.  A few tricks of the trade were explained along the way, including some scenes were created from matting photos he'd taken while hanging out of an aeroplane onto the backdrop of scenes!

Steve also worked with Bill Pearson on Space Precinct, a tough show to shoot with 60-100 shots in a week.  He also worked on Red Dwarf - most famously the scene where Starbug blows up.  While he was there the concept of using rubber dust in the pyrotechnic effect was used, making the explosions much more impressive. 

While working on Tomb Raider he met Chris Corbaould, who he later went on to work with on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.   I never realised quite how big some of the "miniatures" were that are used to created special effects - apparently some of the models for skyscrapers in Gotham City were 35-40 feet high!

This was an interesting look into the world of special effects, though I felt it was a shame that no actual clips of the effects were shown - just photos. 

Steve Begg's profile on IMDB

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

FanFest 2010 - Costumes on Diplay

Terry English's costumes from Excalibur were on display along with some from a more recent movie...

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

FanFest 2010 - Props on Display - 1

The original Gong that was hit at the start of the Rank Studio movies.

I don't really need to tell you what these are, do I?! The TARDIS and a Darlek, of course, from classic sci-fi show Dr Who.

Sorry, should have got a video of this one - the head is slightly blurry because the dinosaur from Night at the Museum 2 was actually moving when I took this - I think it was set to go off every time someone said "This things doesn't actually move, does it?"!

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

FanFest 2010 - The Lowdown

This weekend FanFest 2010 was held in the British Film Museum based in County Hall (just next to the London Eye and London Aquarium). It was an event for all film-lovers but especially focusing on the Spy Film and Sci-Fi Genres.

There were quite a few exhibits and the rest of the Film Museum was open to look around as well (if you go to the museum make sure you check out the Charlie Chaplin exhibition, it's pretty amazing). Apart from vendors there were chances to see the stars in the flesh and get their autographs (with two large halls full of stars, this was an autograph-hunter's dream; stars were charging £15-20 for an autographed photo, and some were happy to sit and chat, and have their picture taken with people). A number of props and costumes from famous sci-fi and spy thrillers were on display, news reporters were getting peoples' reactions to the festival and news that James Bond may have reached its end, and there was a "spy school" for younger visitors.

Apart from all the memorabilia on display and for sale, the exhibits and autograph opportunities, there were several question and answer sessions going on throughout the day, featuring famous actors and actresses, special effects wizards and the like. The highlight of the day was animation legend Ray Harryhausen's press conference.

More on some of the exhibits, Q&A sessions and of course Ray Harryhausen's special announcement to come on this blog...

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Movie Reviews by CaptainD at FanFest 2010

Someone thought this blog was important enough to give me a press pass for FanFest 2010 - made me feel all special for a while!

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

The Mac set to reopen in Birmingham

An important part of Birmingham's cultural life is about to be reborn.  That's Birmingham, England not Birmingham, Alabama incidentally...

After extensive refurbishment, the Mac (Midlands Arts Centre) is back and better than ever - well, it soon will be anyway - the official reopening is on Saturday 1st May.

The Mac's cinema showings include international and indie productions - click here for the current set of movies set to be shown in early May.  Often films that tend to be missed out at big cinema chains get a showing here - I saw The Story of the Weeping Camel at the Mac when it wasn't on anywhere else, for instance.

Official Website - http://www.macarts.co.uk

About the refurb:

On Sat 1 May, mac will throw open the doors to the public providing access to a building which will change Birmingham's cultural landscape.

The £15 million mac and sampad Building Project, which began in April 2008, has resulted in a newly refurbished, and much improved, arts centre built to meet the needs of both artists and the region's vibrant community.

Jointly funded by Arts Council England, Birmingham City Council and a mac and sampad fundraising campaign, the development has dramatically improved mac's ability to offer exciting events and activities as well as improving physical access. In short, mac has a more efficient and effective home – as well as a more attractive one!

-Read More-

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Clash of the Titans (2010)

WJust got back from seeing this... about what I expected, great SFX, lots of action, little character development, overall an entertaining but somewhat underwhelming experience.

I still have a lot of affection for the 1981 version so maybe I'm a little biased, but this left me unmoved, though there were definitely some good aspects to it. Worth watching if you like action flicks.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Index of Recent Posts

Movies I've blogged about recently:

The Fabulous Dorseys (1947) - Review

Black and Tan (1929) - short review of very odd short movie!

Movie Review - How to Train Your Dragon (2010)


FanFest 2010 - Q&A Timetables Now Available


It's A Wonderful Afterlife Trailer


The Spy Next Door Trailer


Remember Me Trailer


Centurion Trailer

Agora Trailer

Coming Soon - "The Living Wake"

Star Wars Uncut - Almost Finished!


Fan Fest – The Ultimate Spy and Sci-Fi event at the London Film Museum


Cavalcade (1933) - short review

Goodbye Jack Frost - we say farewell to one of the UK's favourite detectives

The Cat in the Hat... - I can't believe I was subjected to watching this awful film!

"The Last Song" Trailer

Web Season Review - The Ballad of Mary and Ernie - Season One - crazy and funny

Penelope's Revenge by Leon McPherson - short animation by a very talented young man

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

ACDC vs Iron Man 2!

To help you get ready for Iron Man 2's release next Friday...

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

The Fabulous Dorseys (1947)

This film chronicles the rise, fall and rise of Tommy and Jiimy Dorsey, from their young childhood with their father insisting that they learn to play musical instruments, to their infamous falling out, eventual reconcilliation - and on the way, both of them becomming jazz greats. There are a number of good songs here and the Dorsey brothers, playing themselves, do a decent acting job; the story is helped by a snappy script with several very funny moments. It gets a little bogged down towards the end with the setting up of the long-delayed family reunion. Jane Howard (Janet Blair)'s attempts to reconcile the feuding brothers at the expense of her romance with pianist Bob Burton (William Lundigan) was a bit exasperating (and its evetual conclusion seemed rather contrived, though I guess it may have even been true!).

Jane does however reveal the most telling truth of all at one point - "They argue about everything, they even play music differently. The only thing they have in common is their temper.) (That's probably not verbatim, but near enough!).

All in all it's a very enjoyable movie, even if it feels a tiny bit overlong, and jazz music fans will love the soundtrack.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Black and Tan (1929)

This 19-minute short is a real movie oddity - Duke Ellington stars as himself in a tragic story of a young woman (Fredi Washington) who dances despite Ellington warning her against it as she has cardiac problems. The end result is predictable, the acting pretty terrible, the dancing downright odd and unfortunately, while there is some good music, the sound quality is very poor (and I don't think a restored copy exists). The cinematography is downright weird - peoples' heads are frequently chopped out of the picture.

This seems more like an experiment in various camera techniques than anything, and though I like Ellington's music I can't recommend that you watch this. Even real die-hard fans of old movies and Duke Ellington are going to have a hard time finding much to like about Black and Tan.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Movie Review - How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

How to Train Your Dragon is another highly enjoyable animated movie by Dreamworks.  This one features a young boy named Hiccup, whose destiny it will be to forever change the relationship between the people of his village and the local pests - which just happen to be dragons...

Living on a small island beset by various kinds of dragon, the Vikings of that village are tough - really tough, especially Stoick (Gerard Butler) - ultra-heroic warrior, village chief - and Hiccup's father.  Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) just isn't cut out to be a warrior, though he's going to give it a real try... in case you were wondering, the Vikings give their children hideous names in the hope that it will scare enemies.  Hiccup, we are told, is not actually among the worst names...  (Snotlout, Astrid, Fishlegs and the twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut are his fellow trainees.)

While Hiccup enrols in dragon-bashing school under the tutelage of Gobber (Craig Fergusson), he's also secretly befriending a dragon that he managed to immobilise for a time, but found that he just couldn't kill.  The scenes between Hiccup and the dragon as they slowly gain each others' trust are wonderful; the rest of the film, good though it is, never really matches the sheer pleasure of watching these scenes.  There are a variety of dragons on display here, a pretty diverse range, which makes things more interesting - they all have their own unique talents as well as appearances.  The personality of the dragon who ends up befriending Hiccup seems to have been styled on a cat, which actually works quite well.

The main bulk of the film, involving Hiccup's training, strained relationship with his father, love affair with the irritating tough girl (in this cast Astrid, voiced by America Ferrera), the big battle at the end etc is all nicely enough handled, though a bit too cliché and full of stereotypes for adults watching.  There's a slight over-reliance on slapstick as well for my liking, but on the whole a good balance is maintained to keep How to Train Your Dragon an appealing movie for both children and adults.  The themes of tolerance between species and accepting people who don't fit the perceived ideal come across well without being preachy or patronising.

I didn't bother watching it in 3D - I've come to the conclusion that it's a waste of money after watching several 3D movies last year and being unimpressed by most of them.  The visuals are superb, as you'd expect from Dreamworks - the only slight issue I had was that in some scenes the backgrounds appeared just too static, but on the whole everything looks fantastic, plenty of detail in both characters and backgrounds, and great animation. John Powell's music score was terrific too - sweepingly majestic and skittishly comical as the scene demanded.  Oh, and the voice acting is excellent throughout.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon.  Perhaps the stories of father-child relationships and a loner's path to redemption are a bit too well travelled; certainly this movie won't win any awards for plot originality, but it tells its tale well, looks great, is charming and amusing, and the main plot twist isn't obvious.  A very nice animated movie, whatever age you are.

The introductory narration:

This is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word? Sturdy, and it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunset. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have... dragons.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

FanFest 2010 - Q&A Timetables Now Available

This weekend's coming up fast, and with it FanFest - dedicated to the spy and sci-fi genres, with a special emphasis on James Bond.  A whole host of celebrities are planned to make an appearance - see the guest list.  Several question and answer sessions are planned with the stars - see the Q&A List.

Among others George Lazenby will be appearing on Saturday at 2:30pm for questions (my own would have to be, "just what did you do to upset the editors who destroyed the chances of 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'  being a good film!), while Honor Blackman will be answering questions on Sunday at 11am (pity really, I can only make the Saturday myself!).  I'm hoping that I'll be counted as "Press" enough to get in to hear Ray Harryhausen's press conference - he's the ultimate living legend of movie special effects.  (I wonder what he thinks of the new Clash of the Titans movie?)

More about FanFest after the weekend! 

Fan Fest – The Ultimate Spy and Sci-Fi event at the London Film Museum

www.fanfestival.co.uk

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

It's A Wonderful Afterlife Trailer

I think out of all the films I've watched the trailers of recently, this is the one I like the look of most.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

The Spy Next Door Trailer

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Remember Me Trailer

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Centurion Trailer

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Agora Trailer

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Coming Soon - "The Living Wake"

I'm giving this indie movie a shout-out because I like the look of it and I'm going to be getting a screener of it - so expect a full review in the near future! Though volcanic ash from Iceland may slow things down if it's being sent airmail...

The Living Wake is a dark comedy set in a timeless storybook universe. Self-proclaimed artist and genius, K. Roth Binew, has one day to live.  Binew sets out to hand out invitations to his final party, a living wake. He has enlisted his best and only friend, Mills Joquin, to take him around on a bicycle powered rickshaw. In a final attempt to probe life's deepest mysteries, Binew endures one ridiculous trial after the next.   He concludes his day with a final performance at his living wake. On a makeshift stage in an open field, Binew's friends and enemies gather to witness his madness one final time...

Directors Comments
From the first moment the script hit my hand until my end of days, my life has changed because of The Living Wake.  Through forged friendships and a raw creative force, this little movie has truly taken on a spirit unto itself.

Mike OConnell birthed the concept, Peter Kline harnessed and translated it to the page and I visualized a world where  K. Roth Binew is king.  I envisioned the storybook-like feel taking place in a beautifully isolated environment.  A world that could feel like its own universe yet at the same time strangely familiar.  For me, that place was my home state of Maine. The vibrant fall foliage matched with the rustic architecture of the area fit my vision perfectly. I wanted the film to be funny and sad, but also strikingly beautiful.  Shaping the dramatic and emotional elements of the story to enhance the wit of the script was of utmost importance to me.  K. Roth Binew is such an overwhelming personality that I felt that the audience needed to feel sympathy for him even if they disliked him.
 
Much of that sympathy came through the wonderful portrayal of Mills Joquin by Jesse Eisenberg.  His impeccable comedic timing and emotional sensibilities combined with Mikes hysterically heroic portrayal of K. Roth Binew enabled this bizarre little world to come to life.  Having these two supremely talented actors leading the way on this amazing journey was a wonderful gift.   --Sol Tryon, March 2010

Mike OConnell (K. Roth Binew) and co-writer with Peter Kline
Mike OConnell is an unforgettable performer who combines cerebral absurdist comedy with a virtuosos mastery of electric guitar. Hailing from Chicago, Mike grew up reading Woody Allens short fiction, as well as listening to cassette tapes of Emo Phillips and Jackie Moms Mabley. For the last eight years, Mike has lived in LA where he has played many of the top clubs and attracted a sizable fan base. Rolling Stone has called Mike the hot comedian to watch. Variety singled Mike out in their 2007 Ten Comics to Watch profile. He has appeared on late nights  Jimmy Kimmel and Craig Ferguson, and Comedy Centrals The World Stands Up. In 2007, Mike developed a series entitled Conrad Besselheimer: The Internet Life Coach for HBOs comedy online site. Mike was cast in Foxs sketch comedy pilot, The Right Now! Show in 2007. He was part of Judd Apatows show: Apatow for Destruction. Mike is co-writing and attached to star in Million Dollar Strong with Todd Phillips (Old School, The Hangover). Mike recently completed four comedy music videos that he wrote and will star in. These are being produced by Will Ferrells company Funny or Die and will air on HBO this summer.  Mike was most recently seen onscreen in Judd Apatows Funny People.

Jesse Eisenberg (Mills Joquin)
Jesse Eisenberg began his career in musical theatre, performing in a variety of shows in New Jersey and New York City. In 2002, at the age of 19, Jesse made his auspicious screen debut in Roger Dodger opposite Campbell Scott. Since then, Jesse has appeared in M. Night Shyamalans The Village, won awards for his role in Noah Baumbachs indie hit, The Squid and the Whale, and appeared opposite Terrance Howard and Richard Gere in The Hunting Party.  Jesses is best known for his starring or supporting roles in The Education of Charlie Banks and Miramaxs  Adventureland, directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad) and a leading role in Reuben Fleischers Zombieland for Columbia.  Jesses 2 additional May releases are Solitary Man opposite Michael Douglas and Susan Sarandon and the Sundance selection, Holy Rollers.  Jesse stars with Justin Timberlake in David Finchers The Social Network (October release).  He was nominated for the 2010 BAFTA Rising Star Award.

Filmmaker Sol Tryon
In 2002, Sol produced his first narrative feature film, Bomb The System, which premiered at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival and earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature.  In 2005, Sol worked in Morocco with video artist Shirin Neshat on her first feature film, Women Without Men (Silver Lion Award at Venice Film Festival 2010), and began production on his next two projects, "Weapons" (Executive Producer) and "The Living Wake" (Director/Producer). Weapons premiered in competition and was sold to Lionsgate at Sundance. The Living Wake is Sols directorial debut and premiered at Cinevegas where he received the Red Star Directors Award for originality, creativity and vision. During that time, he also produced Mark Webbers directorial debut film, Explicit Ills, starring Paul Dano, Rosario Dawson, Lou Taylor Pucci and executive produced by Jim Jarmusch. Explicit Ills took several festival trophies, including the Audience Award at SXSW, and was released theatrically in early 2009. Sol has recently produced two documentaries, 2012: Time For Change (featuring Daniel Pinchbeck, Sting, Ellen Page, David Lynch and Gilberto Gil) and Being In The World (Directed by Tao Ruspoli). He is also in pre-production on his next film as director, "Kick The Can". Based on the best selling novel by newsman Jim Lehrer, "Kick The Can" is a coming of age comedy that takes place in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas during the early 1950's. Sol lives in Brooklyn, NY and is committed to bringing original stories with an artistic vision to audiences around the world.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Star Wars Uncut - Almost Finished!

The Star Wars Uncut project is almost ready for release. Basically the whole film has been spilt into chunks 15 seconds long, and people have filmed their own versions - whether using live action, cartoon animation, stop motion or whatever. The end result is going to be quite startling... trailer below!


Star Wars: Uncut Trailer from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.


For more information see www.starwarsuncut.com

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Fan Fest – The Ultimate Spy and Sci-Fi event at the London Film Museum

Fan Fest – The Ultimate Spy and Sci-Fi event

at the London Film Museum

www.fanfestival.co.uk

Fan Festival is proud to present their first collectors convention and signing event at the London Film Museum in County Hall.

The weekend of the 24^th and 25^th April 2010 will be packed with opportunities to meet some of your favourite actors and actresses from the movie industry. Stars of the British film industry will be on hand for signings among the collector’s tables and exhibition pieces on display.

Confirmed guests so far include*;

·         Richard Kiel – His first signing in Central London

·         James Bond himself, George Lazenby, from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

·         Ray Harryhausen, the man who invented stop motion animation in film

·         Honor Blackman - Pussy Galore and Doctor Who

·         Burt Kwouk – Cato Fong from The Pink Panther films

·         Jesper Christensen – His first ever signing event

·         Sebastian Foucan – the free runner from Casino Royale

In total we shall be having the largest gathering of Bond actors and actresses under one roof.

The museum will be featuring a collection of artefacts as part of the weekend, and guests will be able to take a high speed ride down the Thames with London Rib Voyages**

The Art of Avatar! Concept artwork from the stunning 3D world of Pandora created for the film will be on display. Pieces will be taken from the new book ‘The Art of Avatar’ (Abrams Books Ltd) to celebrate the release of James Cameron’s history-making motion picture AVATAR on Blu-ray & DVD on April 26.

Original pieces on display will include Little Nellie, the armoured autogyro from You Only Live Twice, and Tony Stark’s first generation Iron Man suit that he uses to escape the dessert.

On the Saturday night, Sir Christopher Lee will be receiving a lifetime achievement award from Cinema Retro Magazine in a special Q&A session, hosted by writer and publisher Lee Pfeiffer, in the Debating Chamber at the heart of the building. Limited tickets left already!

For the film buffs Steve Begg (visual effects in Casino Royal and more) and Bill Pearson (visual effects in Alien, Bond and more) are doing visual shows and Q&As on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Collectors will also be able to purchase memorabilia from the various stalls around the museum over the 2 days.

Fan Festival aim to produce entertaining, interactive events for fans of film and television.

The London Film Museum is home to many original props and costumes from iconic British films and recently opened a new permanent exhibition dedicated to Charlie Chaplin.

Ticket prices                      Day Pass                              Weekend ticket

Adults                                   £15.00                                   £25.00

Concessions                          £12.50                                   £20.00

Children                                £10.00                                   £18.00

Family                                  £45.00                                   £75.00

Entrance to the Fanfest is separate to the Christopher Lee Evening

www.fanfestival.co.uk

Opening Times – 10am to 6pm both days with last entry one hour before closing

Christopher Lee Q&A – Ticket prices and times to be confirmed

For more information about Fanfest please contact:

Marek Steven @ Way to Blue

07961 163 9087

marek@waytoblue.com

For more information on the London Film Museum please contact:

Mark Best @ London Film Museum

020 7202 7040

mark@londonfilmmuseum.com

*Guest appearances subject to change without notice

**subject to additional charge

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Cavalcade (1933)

Cavalcade is one of those movies that the Best Picture Oscar (in addition to Best Arti Direction and Best Director (Frank Lloyd), but this movie based on the Noel Coward play just never grabbed me. Set initially at the turn of the 20th century, it certainly has some good features, a strong cast and a spectacular sequence depicting the whole first world war in all its horror in just a couple of minutes; however there are simply too many characters to keep track of any it often feels overlong. Not sure how much of this is how cinema has changed and how much is simply my personal taste, but I don't personally feel that this is an especially great movie - or even a particulalry good one. To me it's more of a good idea, but not handled in a particularly effective way.

I await howls of protest, but while I'm glad to have seen it as a little piece of movie history, I doubt if I'd watch it again. Other movies from a similar era seem to have aged much better than Cavalcade.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

Goodbye Jack Frost

Tonight we say a final goodbye to detective Jack Frost, who's been played by Sir David Jason since 1992.  David Jason's long and distinguished career will definitely be remembered for his portrayal of the cynical, honest detective, though no doubt Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses will be his most lasting legacy. 

The final episode (first part screened last night, the conclusion tonight at 9pm) is a fittingly gritty affair involving dog-fighting, one man's fight against justice and a series of crimes that seem to be copycats of felonies from nearly two decades ago...

In a world full of police and dective series, A Tough of Frost was memorable and perhaps in some ways more realistic than most.

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

The Cat in the Hat...

This evening I was subjected to watching one of the most truly dreadful films of recent years... it all started so well, with a very enjoyable sequence before the eponymous cat actually turns up, but almost every second after that was boring adn unfunny. There were several things that tried to make this a good film - in particular the superb set design, and great performances by Dakota Fanning and a deliciously awful Alec Baldwin, but it was just dreadful. Perhaps with Jim Carey instead of Mike Myers in the lead role and a much, MUCH better script, this could have been good... but please, unless perhaps you're under 5 years of age, AVOID!!

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog

"The Last Song" Trailer

Looks like it might be a decent movie... I've always liked Greg Kinnear, and as long as Miley Cyrus isn't too annoying it should be good. The weirdest thing was, looking at the trailer, I couldn't help thinking "she's Lindsay Lohan from about 7 years ago" - hope she doesn't follow the same path of life and career crisis though...

The current IMDB rating of 3.7/10 doesn't look too hopeful though!  However it does seem that quite a lot of people are trashing the movie purely because Miley Cyrus is in it, and probably without actually having seen the movie... I still think it looks like it has the potential to be a good movie.  (If you've seen it - leave a comment and let me know what you thought of it!)

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CaptainD - Movie Reviews Blog