August 24th, 2006
Posted by
Ian W |
Film & TV News, Rants & Raves |
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Paramount Pictures and Tom Cruise have parted company and it would seem the split is anything but amicable, with both sides claiming they instigated the parting. So who, if anyone, is telling the truth? Let’s have a look at the evidence.
Over the past year or so Cruise has come under fire from the media, for several reasons, most notably acting like a fool while professing his love for Katie Holmes on Oprah and being out spoken about the use of certain prescription drugs. This, Paramount have claimed, has affected his pulling power at the box office and caused them some embarrassment as well. While if can’t really be disputed that Cruise hasn’t done his public image a lot of good, just how much has if affected his star pulling power? Not a lot in my opinion. Lets remember we’re talking about Hollywood here, I don’t think a few red faces is going to put a major movie studio off, only money will do that. And in the embarrassment stakes Cruise definitely takes second place to Mel Gibson.
If you look at Paramount’s most successful films since the year 2001 that didn’t star Tom Cruise, you see an interesting pattern -
2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider No15
2002 The Sum Of All Fears No24
2003 How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days No29
2004 Lemony Snicket’s No18
2005 The Longest Yard No12
August 22nd, 2006
Posted by
Ian W |
DVD Viewing Journal |
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Fitzcarraldo
Life imitates art; director Herzog’s crazy idea for a film about a man with a crazy idea to move a ship over a mountain. This is probably his most enjoyable film, no doubt due to the similarities between the Fitzcarraldo character and Werner himself; in essence Kinski is playing Herzog.
Fitzcarraldo is a huge opera lover and will do anything to raise the money to bring music to the jungles of Peru. He comes up with an incredible scheme to avoid the rapids of the Amazon River by hauling a huge river boat over a mountain in order to make a fortune from the areas rubber trees.
It’s an insane idea and one they followed through in real life, they actually pulled the boat over the mountain. If that idea alone isn’t enough to show how determined (or mad?) Herzog was to make the film the fact it took three years to make should give you some idea.
Kinski seems to enjoy playing Fitzcarraldo, possibly because he knows he’s really playing his great friend/enemy Herzog. In any case it’s one of his best performances and one of his happiest as well
Cobra Verde
The Kinski/Herzog teams final pairing is very disappointing. Kinski plays the titular bandit who goes to Africa as a slave trader only to find the slave trade outlawed before he can return home to claim his rewards.
August 16th, 2006
Posted by
Ian W |
Rants & Raves |
11 comments
Whoops, my mistake that’s I Am Legend. But Smith is in fact dyslexic, something I never knew until recently. Something else I never knew was that about 4% of the population are severely dyslexic and a further 6% suffer moderate to miner effects, that’s 1 in 10. What’s the point of this? Let me explain…
Last week I received some ‘helpful’ comments on this site from someone whose opinion I valued (and, I surpose, approval I wanted.) I mean, this was after I’d been over it with spellchecker and corrected the worst mistakes, so I must be bad right? Following these comments I was not only ready to stop writing this blog and delete everything I’d already written, but also sell my house and move to a small island off the coast of Scotland, in the hopes of being far enough away from civilisation so as not to infect anyone else with my illiteracy. Thankfully some good friends persuaded me out of this course of action (I say thankfully as it gets cold up there and I hate the cold) and instead to dig a bit deeper to find the root of the problem.
Dyslexia was first recognised by Parliament in the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 although it wasn’t until the 1993 Education Act that it was defined as a special educational need. Basically what this means is that if you were a kid going to school in the 70’s who suffered from severe dyslexia there was a chance you might get some kind of special attention. If on the other hand you only suffered a mild form, the chances were you would just be branded as a ‘bad speller.’ I was a kid going to school in the 70’s and I was a ‘bad speller.’
August 14th, 2006
Posted by
Ian W |
DVD Viewing Journal |
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A quiet week
Tower of London
Vincent Price stars in Roger Corman’s entertaining version of Richard III. The finished film is not really the one he wanted to make (it was originally planed to be shot in colour and the final The Battle of Bosworth was cut at the last minute and replaced with footage from the 1939 Tower of London) but it’s still entertaining, with Price having a ball as Richard.
It’s a much better film than it deserves to be given the production problems though it’s not a patch on most of the Corman/Price Poe films.
After The Sunset
Brett Ratner’s affectionate tribute to classic heist movies like The Thomas Crown Affair and To Catch a Thief is a harmless, undemanding piece of fluff. He has a good cast but none of them are taxed to anywhere near the limit of their ability.
The story concerns a retired jewel thief (Brosnan) tempted into one last job by FBI man Woody Harrelson. There are the usual twists and turns you always find in this sort of thing but no real surprises. The best thing about the film is Salma Hayak but that has more to do with her wearing very little than her acting ability.
Batman Begins
A film that owes as much to the classic 70’s Denny O’Neil/Neil Adams work on the character as it does the more modern take of people like Frank Miller.
August 9th, 2006
Posted by
Ian W |
Rants & Raves |
5 comments
There’s a thread running over in the DVD Forums to find ‘The Official DVD Forums Top 100 Films,’ so if you’re a member make sure you vote (and if you’re not a member, why not?) You pick just your top five films for the poll, and that got me thinking - how do you select five films out of all the classics that have been made over the years?
Do you try and spread them out across genres? Or decades? Or maybe your favourite stars/directors? It’s an impossible choice really. It’s the kind of thing that will vary depending on your mood, but somehow it had to be done.
So what are did I vote for and why? I’m glad you asked.
In reverse order -
5. Dirty Harry
The late 60’s through the 70’s was the golden era for thrillers for me, and I knew I had to have one in my list. There were several contenders - Bullitt, The French Connection, Marathon Man, Chinatown to name just a few, but in the end it had to be Clint. When I think of Eastwood characters it’s always Harry Callahan that comes to mind first. The sequels may have gone steadily downhill but the original is the perfect, no frills, cop movie. It’s hard to believe Eastwood wasn’t first choice for the role (actually he was fourth after Sinatra, Wayne and Newman all passed) as it’s become such an iconic part that it’s now impossible to imagine anyone else playing it.
August 7th, 2006
Posted by
Ian W |
Film & TV News |
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So how have the big summer blockbusters performed this year? Let’s take a look shall we?
First out of the gate was Mission Impossible III, and with a sub $50 million opening this was widely condemned as a major disappointment. But how do things look now its theatrical business is more or less complete? Surprisingly good I think. While it only managed $133m in the US, its takings for the rest of the world are almost double that ($247m) giving it a worldwide gross of almost $381m. With a budget of £150m (small compared to some of the summers other big films) that’s not a bad return at all and I think at some point we’ll see Mission Impossible IV.
Poseidon opened next and must rank as the major flop of the summer. Budgeted at $160m Wolfgang Petersen’s remake only managed $60m in America and, while it did better overseas ($114m) is still a big disappointment. After Troy and now this I wouldn’t expect to see Petersen given this kind of money to play with again any time soon, so don’t hold your breath for his adaptation of the Ender’s Game SF novel.
August 6th, 2006
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Ian W |
DVD Viewing Journal |
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Antitrust
Average techno thriller enlivened by Tim Robbins as Bill Gates Gary Winstone. Bill’s Gary’s company has a new communications system in development and due to launch very soon and he will do anything to meet his deadline. Ryan Phillippe is the new techno wiz he hires who soon realises that everything may not be as it seems.
There are few real surprises, although the plot takes a couple of twists towards the end. The performances with the exception of Robbins are adequate though uninspired as is the direction by Peter Howitt. However, Robbins makes it worth a watch for his Bill Gates impression, although of course he can’t be based on Gates because the film mentions him as one of Gary Winstone’s competitors. At least that must have been the filmmaker’s escape clause if Gates tried to sue. Anti-Trust [2001]
All the Queen’s Men
World War II set comedy starring Matt Le Blanc and Eddie Izzard. Who wins in this transatlantic battle of the comedians? Not the viewer that’s for sure.
The film deals with a secret mission to steal an Enigma coding machine by a team of cross-dressing allied agents. This may sound like the plot of a Carry On film but there are less laughs you’d usually find there. In fact, I can’t remember laughing once.
Let Him Have It
