Charlene's Film Blog

Shame

2012-01-17T14:50:00.003Z

Written by: Abi Morgan & Steve McQueen

Directed by: Steve McQueen

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan

Rating: 7/10

Psychological afflictions don’t come much more interesting than sex addiction. It’s a sad, fascinating and deeply damaging disease and one which has been washed over by dozens of over-sexed fading movie stars who have touted it as the reason for their sudden stint in rehab. As we raise our eyebrows at these less than sympathetic characters the reality of the affliction becomes little more than a joke to most people. But of course sex addiction does exist and it’s ugly, deadening and painful to watch.

Director Steve McQueen, the king of “horribly stark” takes us on a journey over the course of a few days with Brandon, a handsome yuppie living it up in downtown Manhattan. He is also a sex addict. For a while it’s all piercing stares and visual examination of his clearly carefully sculpted body but it soon becomes very clear that for Brandon, sex isn’t sexy. It is creepy and it is cold and his hunger for it is a constant distraction. Things really kick off when his sister Sissy invades his life and invites herself on to his couch for a few days. Brandon’s world is cold, clinical and ordered and when a frazzled, damaged Sissy enters it, all hell breaks loose.

If Brandon is a closed book, Cissy is his polar opposite. She wears her naïve heart on her sleeve and it is horrible to see how broken she is but even worse to know (or guess, I suppose) that this is a situation she gets herself in time and time again. As we follow Brandon through his series of encounters and a particularly upsetting date with a woman who is smart, beautiful and who he really feels for we experience the depths of his problems and his despair.

Fassbender plays this role to perfection. His sculpted body and square jaw give him enough cheesy appeal to ensure we believe he would rarely find it difficult to attract women but his steely, cold eyes give him the mystique to buy into the fact that there’s more going on behind the eyes than we think.

The relationship between he and his sister is not explored fully but enough is shown and hinted at to presume that they did not have a conventional childhood. Both seem to understand each other in that level of familiarity that only exists between people who grew up together but they are also worlds apart in so many ways that they almost challenge each other to understand the alien worlds they each live.

Shame is a success on many levels. It is engaging and atmospheric and shows many of the ways in which sex addiction is unglamorous. However, I was slightly disappointed with the film’s ability to bring anything new to the table. As it ended I came away feeling that I’d seen all this before and at the end of the day for all its nudity and lingering focus on its subjects it didn’t feel very intimate and felt almost conventional. As engaging as it was, there was nothing to mull over when the credits rolled and no new perspective to justify the time we spent in Brandon’s company. Maybe I’ve been desensitised by four seasons of Californication, a subtler but no less unsettling exploration of sex addiction but I didn’t feel that Shame gave me any new material to consider on the subject.

Shame is enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing but ultimately unrewarding, I can’t help feeling like this is a somewhat shallow representation of a misunderstood and underestimated disease. That being said, there’s much to admire in the film and it’d definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

- Charlene Lydon

rukkle wins People's Choice

2011-11-14T12:25:00.000Z

I am absolutely DELIGHTED to announce that a website that I contribute to regularly and one which happens to be the ingenious brain-child of a great friend of mine won a major public vote and was
presented with a prestigious Big Mouth 2011 Eircom Spider Award by Dara O'Briain in the Convention Centre, Dublin.

The Spiders are an annual event honouring Irish individuals and organisations
for their outstanding achievements online and are considered an important
benchmark for distinction and merit in web-based business strategies. (AKA The
oscars for us web nerds!!!)

Congratulations to Dave and to rukkle for a well-deserved win!!

Read more here: http://rukkle.com/entertainment/rukkle-wins-peoples-choice-web-award/

www.rukkle.com.

Follow rukkle on twitter.com/rukkle and facebook.com/rukkle

LFF: The Artist

2011-11-08T19:48:00.000Z

Highlights from BFI London Film Festival

2011-11-07T11:41:00.012Z

I went positively square-eyed for five days of non-stop cinema-going in London for Volta at the 2011 BFI London Film Festival last week. Here is a run-down of what we learned and some of the films you should look out for in your local cinema in the coming months.

The Artist - France, dir. Michel Hazanavicius

A sneaky hope for this years Oscars? This inventive and charming silent film is so authentic that it is impossible not to fall in love with it. But can a black & white, silent comedy win over the multiplex audience? We'll have to wait and see! With extremely likeable performances from the two leads, Jean Dujardin channelling Gene Kelly and Bernice Bejo as a rising starlet, the film is slyly post-modern but joyfully unironic. Check your cynicism at the door.

Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8K9AZcSQJE

Lotus Eaters - UK/Ireland, dir. Alexandra McGuinness

Alexandra McGuinness directs and co-writes this insight into the London hipster scene. Although it's difficult to engage with the characters whose incessant vapid ramblings make up the bulk of the film, the film doesn't judge, nor does it glamourise. It serves as a window and the world McGuinness creates is so believable that it feels very much like we are watching a summer in the lives of these people. Filmed in crisp black and white with a fashion-conscious eye, McGuinness has a stylish edge to her filmmaking that should make her one to watch. Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rACt1o5Uzmk

Bernadette Devlin: Notes on a Political Journey - Ireland, dir. Leila Doolin

The fascinating story of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey is brought to life in this documentary by Leila Doolan which tracks Bernadette's rise to power in the 1970's all the way through her political carrer and her most recent struggle, the attempted extradition of her daughter Roisin to Germany. Voted to UK parliament as a 21 year old student, Bernadette Devlin became a passionate international voice for the troubles in Northern Ireland. Mixing some fantastic archive material with present-day interviews with the subject herself, the film marvels at the massive impact one simple, intelligent voice can have on a global scale.

Take Shelter - US, dir. Jeff Nichols

A man sees hallucinatory visions of an impending storm and must decide whether he is a prophet or a madman. That is the quite simple setup of this brilliant family drama/horror film from director Jeff Nichols who re-teams with actor Michael Shannon for the second time (the first being his very interesting Shotgun Stories). Filmed in just four week with a miniscule budget, the film is a masterpiece in atmosphere and tension. Michael Shannon, already an Oscar nominee for his performance in Revolutionary Road, puts in what could be the best performance of his career to date as a man struggling with his mental health. Definitely worth a watch for the magnificent storm sequences alone. Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B6VleLDh0I

Martha Marcy May Marlene - US, dir. Sean Durkin

One of the films that got the most buzz at the festival was this drama/thriller. A dreamy, beautiful film which deals with the psychological aftermath of a girl who has escaped from a cult. Starring Elizabeth Olsen who will surely be in a casting tizzy after this, the film focusses on Martha's life after leaving the cult; the paranoia, the sense of isolation, and the craving to return to the arms of terrifying but charismatic leader Patrick (a brilliant John Hawkes). There are flashbacks to life at the commune but these serve mainly to highlight Martha's current state of mind than to give the audience a look at the machinations of a cult. Though some might find the lack of conclusive storytelling frustrating, the characters, the performances and the ambitious intent of the film will surely gain the film some fans. Masterful and chilling. Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERREgOobLOs

The Descendants - US, dir. Alexander Payne

Alexander Payne's latest drama, The Descendants, is a film far superior to its potentially melodramatic set-up. A woman lies in a coma, waiting to die and her husband realises she has been having an affair and must come to terms with the mistakes they have made as a family before letting her go. Payne masterfully gets to the genuine human experience at the heart of the story and proves himself yet again one of cinema's great pain merchants. He cuts to the bone, allowing the audience intimate access to spectrum of subtle feelings one might experience at such a time. As always though, Payne infuses the extremely heavy subject matter with just the right touch of light-heartedness. Funny, touching and intelligent, The Descendants is a far better film than expected. Judge for yourself, hee's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OBvd5MgPYA

Miss Bala - Mexico, dir. Gerardo Naranjo

A beauty pageant hopeful from the slums of Tijuana becomes inadvertently involved in cross-border gangland warfare. This disquieting, sad and innovative film is a well-paced and unique addition to the gang crime genre. Director Naranjo handles the slow drama and the gory action set-pieces with equal finesse. Definitely a filmmaker to watch, and credit must go to Stephanie Sigman who must carry the film almost silently, and does so with tremendous grace and delicacy. Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxOhqJ98QJY

Nobody Else But You (Poupoupidou) - France, dir. Gerald Hustache-Mathieu

This fun, French, small-town murder mystery centres on the apparent suicide of a beautiful local celebrity whose journals help investigators figure out how she wound up dead in the snow. The girl's story parallels the life and death of Marilyn Monroe in many different ways and the film is a form of conspiracy theory about what really happened to Marilyn. Quirky, intriguing and atmospheric, this film is a unique story, well told. Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0hVvp4sSEo

Shame - UK, dir. Steve McQueen

Hunger director Steve McQueen teams up with Michael Fassbender again as they delve into the murky world of sex addiction. We follow Brandon as he lives from day-to-day trying to ensure his life never gets in the way of his intense sexual urges. There is no easy way to explore this subject matter but McQueen has created a cold but sympathetic portrait of a man with a very complex set of neuroses. Gorgeous-looking, challenging and featuring a superb perfrmance from Fassbender.

Trailer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/oct/14/shame-trailer-video

Bernie - US, dir. Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater teams up with Jack Black for this dark comedy about a beloved local mortician who murders his abhorrent elderly companion and keeps her in the freezer for nine months. The film is based on a true story and feels very authentic as Linklater sets the film in his home state of Texas. A strong performance by the Jack Black and a number of suberb supporting characters makes this a fun, likeable black comedy.

We Need to Talk About Kevin - UK, dir. Lynne Ramsey

A devastating account of a mother's struggle with her disturbed son and her dissection of the reasons behind his violent attack on his school. Beautifully shot by Irish cinematographer Seamus McGarvey and featuring an outstanding, conflicted performance by Tilda Swinton, this film won Best Film at the festival and it's easy to see why punters and critics alike were so taken with it.
Check out the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLRgAe2jLaw

Snowtown - Australia, dir. Justin Kurzel Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel's debut film tells the story of notorious serial killer John Bunting and his influence on a young man whose home life is extremely unpleasant. When Bunting comes into his family's life his charismatic charm seduces him, his mother and the rest of the community. Soon, Bunting is rallying friends to "rid" the town of its paedophiles, homosexuals and junkies. Often abstract, very dark and harrowing throughout.

Watch the trailer on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6DmfOT2EtI

For more articles on the best of independent cinema please go check out Ireland's best VOD resource, Volta. http://www.volta.ie

LFF: Martha Marcy May Marlene

2011-10-26T18:09:00.003+01:00

Written and directed by: Sean Durkin

Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, John Hawkes, Hugh Dancy

Rating: 8/10

For such fascinating subject matter there really aren’t very many good films made about cults. I know there have been countless TV movies about the Manson family, Jonestown and Waco but it is sadly rare to see films that treat the subject with any kind of psychological depth. Sean Durkin’s debut film Martha Marcy May Marlene is one such rarity.

Focussing very much NOT on the machinations of life in a cult, but instead on the devastating psychological residue after one girl’s daring escape from the commune, the film's insights into life in the commune comes in flashes. These short but very telling, snippets merely highlight what she went through and some of the ploys used to keep the members loyal. Durkin chooses not to tell dwell on life in the cult which serves the overall arc nicely but leaves the audience gagging to spend more time inside the commune and in the presence of their absolutely terrifying leader Patrick, a typically charismatic leader dripping with menace.

Martha, the young escapee is taken in by her older sister. Their relationship is complicated and it is clear that this is not the warmest environment for Martha as she tries to rejoin society. Her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) lives in a large lake house; very modern and very cold, with her new husband Ted, a short-tempered workaholic. It is the polar opposite of beat-up, energetic but strangely inviting house on the commune. As Lucy genuinely tries to understand her sister and sympathise with her there is always a sense that she is weary of Martha’s negative presence in her otherwise pleasant life. There are tender moments between the two and some affection but the sisters just cannot connect.

The two worlds the film inhabits, the lake house and the commune, seem equally oppressive to Martha and it is with great sadness that the audience slowly accepts that maybe this girl won’t ever feel part of any society.

Much of the film focuses on Martha’s paranoia after escaping the cult. She fears Patrick and she knows he will go to any lengths to get her back. The line is often blurred between what is happening in reality and what Martha’s mind is creating out of fear. For some this may prove tiresome and that’s understandable but there’s something to be admired in Durkin’s ability to stay true to his vision for the film and not to fall into any soap opera theatrics, though the film is not without its nerve-shredding scenes.

Martha, a complex, not always likeable character, is played with remarkable power and haunting sympathy by Elizabeth Olsen, sister to the not even remotely haunting Olsen Twins. Cast just two weeks before the shoot, Elizabeth’s wholesome beauty and melancholy eyes are sure to remain niggling at you for a long time after the films ends. The same can be said for John Hawkes as Patrick, whose sharp sneer and intelligent eyes will surely stay in your nightmares for a long time after. Like his Oscar-nominated turn as Teardrop in Winter’s Bone, Hawkes is both brimming with menace and oozing unconventional charm. The hold he has over Martha (or Marcy May, as he chooses to name her) and her naïve acceptance of his love packs a powerful punch mainly due to the wealth of subtle energy behind both actors’ eyes. Despite the depth of Patrick’s cruelty and devastating emotional manipulation there’s something in the performance that makes him strangely alluring; just seductive enough to ensure the situation is believable. Two extremely strong characters and equally strong performances carry the film into much more interesting territory.

Martha Marcy May Marlene may not be a perfect film and many will be frustrated by its lack of conclusions of any sort but it is certainly unique and it’s dozy, dreamy air makes for haunting cinema.

- Charlene Lydon

Take Shelter

2011-10-26T16:30:00.005+01:00

Written & Directed by: Jeff Nichols

Starring: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Shea Whigham

Rating: 9/10

From the opening moments of this dark, dreamy tale it is clear that we are in for something quite extraordinary. Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter begins with a nightmare and continues as such even after our protagonist Curtis LaForche wakes up.

Curtis’s nightmare comes in the form of a storm. Ominous clouds roll towards him, black and imposing and spitting greasy, yellow rain. This opening sequence, indicative of the rest of the film, is terrifying, beautiful and full of awe at nature’s power. When the dreams continue, and start to come in the form of waking hallucinations, Curtis must decide whether he is a prophet or a lunatic.

There is a history of mental illness in Curtis’ family as we see when he visits his mother, now in full-time care for paranoid schizophrenia.Curtis has untapped fears surrounding his own mental health and is terrified that he is starting to lose his grip on reality. However, he takes a “better safe than sorry” approach and begins to obsessively build a storm shelter so that he might keep his family safe if a storm does come.

The bulk of the film looks at Curtis’ declining mental health. Is he slipping further into some kind of hereditary psychosis or is he driving himself insane with paranoia? His descent into madness is terrifying to watch and while the film never really quite decides whether he is a prophet or a madman it keeps its feet firmly planted in reality and never loses sight of the true intention of the film, to watch a man as he disintegrates.

There is something very Cronenbergian about the crisis of masculinity going on in Take Shelter and the violent way in which it manifests itself. Also, the issue of the role of the man as provider and the loss of control in the current worldwide recession is a theme at the forefront of a lot of people's minds and one which is tackled here with grace and terrifying thoughtfulness. Curtis is a kind, loving husband and father but his paranoia, his fears for his family and his fears for his own sanity drive him to some very erratic behaviour that might have disastrous results for his family, storm or no storm. The relationship between Curtis and his wife and daughter is realistic and Jessica Chastain's earthy beauty compliments the character's strength, trust, intelligence and warmth just perfectly. As they struggle to keep their marriage together despite Curtis's many misadventures, one can feel her shock that something that was once so strong could be taken from her so cruelly.

Take Shelter is a beautiful film. It is a lyrical film and it is a poetic film. It is not necessarily a film that provides answers but it is not ever trying to riddle you. The script is tight, pitch-perfect and nicely paced suggesting that Jeff Nichols is as skilled as a writer as he is a director. Shot with unbelievable beauty by lenser Adam Stone, the film looks and feels profoundly alluring and is a pleasure to behold throughout. However, the real heart of the film rests on the shoulders of Michael Shannon, who is superb here as the desperate Curtis. He is cuddly enough to be sympathetic but giant enough to be terrifying. His performance is a towering achievement and, in my eyes, cements him as one of the most interesting actors working today. This is the kind of performance that rarely comes around and he tackles the subtle moments and the melodrama with equal elegance. If there is something to be said against the film it is the final few minutes which have proven to be divisive for audiences. However, I felt that the more the ending sat with me and I mulled it over in my head, the more I felt comfortable with it and the looming question mark it leaves the audience with.

Part family drama, part disaster movie, part psychological thriller and part horror, this truly unique film must be seen on the big screen if at all possible and I can only implore people to make the effort to go out and give this film your money. Take Shelter is a low-budget (not that you can tell) masterpiece that truly deserves your attention.

- Charlene Lydon

A Film With Me In It

2011-09-27T12:43:00.001+01:00

Written by: Mark Doherty

Directed by: Ian Fitzgibbon

Starring: Dylan Moran, Mark Doherty, Amy Huberman, David O'Doherty

Rating: 8/10

Ian Fitzgibbon's black comedy A Film With Me In It is a dark, funny, grimy and somewhat depressing comedy, with a tone akin to Withnail and I that somehow makes the protagonists genuinely bleak disposition part of the overall charm. The less you know about the plot the better so I won't get into a summary here. But I will say this; your enjoyment of this film will depend on how much you will allow yourself to suspend disbelief. It is a film about coincidence and the lengths to which fate will go to in order to screw you over.

Mark, a struggling actor, lives with his invalid brother Dave and his beautiful girlfriend Sally in a run-down flat on the south-side of Dublin. His best friend Pierce (Dylan Moran) is an alcoholic writer whose comically morose outlook on life is the main comic relief in the film. Mark is behind in his rent, jobless and in trouble with Sally because he is too chicken to ask the gruff landlord to fix the many, many problems in their flat. Things go from bad to worse to downright cruel for Mark as a series of accidents land him in some seriously hot water.

The comedy here lies in the cruel joke that the universe in playing on the hapless Mark. He finds himself in a situation so implausible that there's no way to convince anyone that it is not of his own making. The aesthetic and humour are so pitch black that it can sometimes be difficult to endure but the snappy pacing and the clever dialogue keeps the film consistently entertaining. The chemistry between the leads is wonderful and it's easy to buy into the friendship between the pair of curmudgeonly grumps whose only emission of warmth is towards each other, and only on occasion. They are grumpy, they are sarcastic and you can't imagine why a girl like Sally would ever bother with either of them but they are also oddly likeable and as their situation gets more and more sticky you can't help but sympathise. I'm reminded of the under-rated dark comedies of Danny DeVito, films like The War of the Roses, Death to Smoochy and Our House, all films whose black hearts make for unsettling and guilty laughs, but laughs nonetheless. How much torture can we watch our heroes go through? It's an endurance test alright, but A Film With Me In It is likeable, well-plotted and has a hilariously nasty payoff.

Worth a watch.

Available from 30th September here

- Charlene Lydon

Red White & Blue

2011-09-26T22:24:00.003+01:00

Written & Directed by: Simon Rumley

Starring: Noah Taylor, Amanda Fuller, Marc Senter

Rating: 7/10

Independent U.S. thriller Red White and Blue is a fascinating specimen indeed. As delicate in its portrayal of love as it is explicit in its portrayal of violence, the film begins as a strangely voyeuristic exploitation film, playing like a series of vignettes and ends as an intensely non-judgmental exploration of moral boundaries. Unique and certain to plague your thoughts for a long time after it ends, this is a thoroughly original, though not entirely successful piece of work from director Simon Rumley.

Erica is a dark, damaged young woman who enjoys picking up men in seedy bars, but never sleeps with the same one twice. She keeps to herself, doesn't "do friendship" and is generally a closed book. Nate is an army vet, with links to the CIA who has a history of animal torture and lives in Erica's building. He is as damaged as Erica but with a slightly more vulnerable air. Erica is interested in this mysterious stranger but doesn't want to sleep with him. It must be love. Meanwhile Franki, a rock musician who indulged in an orgy with his bandmates and Erica has received some shocking news that sets up the final, gruesome act.

It's unfair to categorise this as a horror film as there is nothing here designed to scare the audience. It is not a film that keeps you in suspense either. Red White and Blue is very much a human drama, despite it's showy display of violence towards the end. The central couple, Erica and Nate, are two tragic characters and their slow bonding and eventual coming together is the stuff of indie drama, not horror, but there is a looming sense of tragedy as we see flashes of a seriously dark side to Nate, an otherwise extremely likeable character. In fact, he is so likeable that this makes the final half hour even more difficult to watch since you can't help but feel his pain and you may enter some very murky moral ground.

The film is structured in such a way that the focus shifts between characters. We start off with Erica who is played by a perfectly cast Amanda Fuller. Her performance is brave, subtle and so interesting that she goes from unlikeable to desperately sad and vulnerable as the film goes on. The second character we explore is Franki and a huge problem for me watching the film is that I couldn't bring myself to like this character no matter how hard I tried. As with the other characters, he has his dark side and his light side but I just couldn't stand him. Maybe it's my dislike for soul-searching hipster types but not being able to sympathise with him really dampened my enjoyment of the film, particularly as events begin to unfold. If this character had worked better I think the plot as a whole would have felt more effective. By far the best thing about the film is the great Noah Taylor, digging right down into the pits of darkness for this role and giving us a side of him we haven't seen before. A genuinely scary, monstrous romantic lead. The blend of innocence, sweetness and pure psychotic rage ensures that the audiences head is spinning by the end of the film. The final shot of the film is somewhat heartbreaking and in a nice little play on time perception, we get a rather poignant little twist in the tale that reminds us exactly what the film is really about. Two damaged people who, for a fleeting second, found love.

With nothing to go on but the fact that Noah Taylor was in it (pretty safe bet) and a pretty frightening trailer I gave this film a chance and I'm glad I did. While the film definitely has its problems, I was pleasantly surprised to find that beneath its gruesome surface it is a film with a big heart and, in an unconventional way, wears it on its sleeve. The film will not be to everyone's taste but it has a certain resonance that is all too rare in genre films.

The film will be released in the UK on 10th October.

- Charlene Lydon

Friends With Benefits

2011-09-06T13:13:00.003+01:00

Written by: Keith Merryman, David A. Newman, Will Gluck

Directed by: Will Gluck

Starring: Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake, Patricia Clarkson, Richard Jenkins

Rating: 4/10

It boggles the mind how two films with strikingly similar concepts and a strikingly similar cast can go on release within six months of each other. February saw the release of No Strings Attached, a rom-com starring Black Swan actress Natalie Portman and Hollywood a-lister Ashton Kutcher about friends who enter into a physical relationship without the emotional pressure of a normal relationship. Neither wants a relationship but enjoy the comfort of each others beds. That is until they start to realise they were made for each other. Now we have Friends With Benefits, starring Black Swan actress Mila Kunis and Hollywood a-lister Justin Timberlake, with exactly the same plot. Perhaps it’s simply an unfortunate coincidence that these two films exist in such close proximity and since I thought No Strings Attached was pretty awful I quite hoped Friends With Benefits would be a bit more likeable.

Dylan (Timberlake) is an LA website developer who is recruited to work for GQ magazine in New York. He is met at the airport by Jamie (Kunis), a beautiful, quirky girl who helps him settle in to the very different world of Manhattan. Tired of frustrating failed relationships the pair enter into a sexually-charged friendship on the basis that they don’t need to get bogged down with the politics of dating. It’s all going well until they start to realise they’re made for each other.

Friends With Benefits starts well. The co-stars are glamorous, likeable and their on-screen chemistry really works. The audience has a great time watching them together and the bawdiness of their sexploits makes for a few giggles. A lot of time is spent making fun of conventional rom-coms, with a fictional film referenced throughout (starring Rashida Jones and Jason Segal) as an example of how manufactured and delusional the world of rom-coms are. This is the film’s way of declaring itself the anti-rom-com. But then what does it go and do? It bloody well becomes the most sappy, conventional rom-com of them all! In the process it also loses all sense of fun and the giddy naughtiness of the first half becomes overtaken by family drama and issues with trust and self-doubt.

There is something infuriatingly smug about a film that pokes so much fun at its own genre but then refuses to think outside of the box defined by generic convention. It’s a bad case of having your cake and eating it too…and even worse, it’s a waste of the breezy charms of its superb co-stars! Unfortunately this starts well but becomes a complete bore by the end, dampened even further by a terribly cheesy ending. If you have a high tolerance for bad romantic comedies, you might enjoy this but if you’re expecting the edgy, sophisticated comedy the first act promises, you will probably be very angry by the time the credits roll. Disappointing!

- Charlene Lydon

The Skin I Live In

2011-08-24T17:57:00.002+01:00

Written & Directed by: Pedro Almodovar

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Jan Cornet

Rating: 10/10

As a longtime fan of Pedro Almodovar's films, I will admit the trailer for his latest film The Skin I Live In left me somewhat baffled (see embedded trailer below). Having now seen the film however, I see the method in his madness. The trailer tells you little or nothing about the film but bombards the viewer with crazy images which are in retrospect probably designed to confuse. The trailer serves the purpose of telling the viewer very little of what the film is about while titillating with striking visuals. A bold move but an effective one, because the less you know about this film going in the better.

With that in mind, I'll keep this review short and will try not to give anything away. Antonio Banderas plays a rather unhinged scientist who is keeping a beautiful young woman prisoner in his home while using her as a human guinea pig for a new type of synthetic human skin. That's about as much information as you need. As the story unfolds, petal by petal in that flower-like way we've become accustomed to seeing from Almodovar, each scene adds wonder and flavour to an already robust set-up. Moving at a break-neck pace, not a frame is without beauty and not a second is wasted without pushing the story along. This screenplay is extremely polished and beautifully nuanced.

As usual, cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine delivers beautifully vibrant visuals, but unlike other Almodovar films, this palette is decidedly less colourful, sticking mainly to Cronenbergian metallic colours fused with fleshy tones but with the odd gash of vibrant colour. It is as beautiful to behold as any other Almodovar film, but perhaps less garish.

In a film that relies on ambiguity in so many ways the cast here must be commended. Delicate balances are achieved by all concerned and it's wonderful to see Antonio Banderas settling into the rather unsettling role of Dr. Robert Ledgard. He exudes the same charisma and sexual bravura that made him famous but without the least whiff of sex symbol status coming through in the performance. He is creepy, strangely alluring and underplays the "mad scientist" bit admirably. Elena Anayas also impresses in a very challenging performance both physically and emotionally, both of which are perfectly effective as her story unfolds. A brilliant character who may not have been so impressive in the hands of a less capable actress. The camera intimately caresses her face and body throughout and she steadfastly rises to the challenge of being as beautiful a muse as a director could ask for.

It is unlikely that Almodovar will win over any new fans with The Skin I Live In but he will surely satisfy his already massive fanbase. A dark, thoughtful, frightening piece but never shying away from the heights of melodrama that Almodovar is known for, this sits beautifully on the line between Cronenberg at his best and a crazy soap opera.

Unique, gothic and delightfully melodramatic! I love it!

- Charlene Lydon

Interview with KNUCKLE director Ian Palmer

2011-08-05T20:12:00.001+01:00

http://www.volta.ie/clips-and-trailers/knuckle-interview-with-director-ian-palmer

Here's my video interview with Ian Palmer, the director of fantastic documentary KNUCKLE which follows two traveller families who are involved in the scary world of bareknuckle boxing.

KNUCKLE is available to stream or download here: http://www.volta.ie/films/knuckle

"Spider" short film

2011-07-22T10:22:00.000+01:00

Written by: Nash Edgerton and David Michod

Directed by Nash Edgerton

Starring: Nash Edgerton, Mirrah Foulkes

The people who brought you The Square and Animal Kingdom combine their powers here to great cinematic effect. I shall say no more...just watch!

It's all fun and games until someone loses and eye...

Horrible Bosses

2011-07-21T12:37:00.002+01:00

Written by: Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein

Directed by Seth Gordon

Starring: Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell

Rating: 8/10

If it’s satisfying, edgy summer comedy you’re after look no further! Horrible Bosses is naughty enough to ensure the odd shocked snigger, but funny enough to ensure you don’t spend too long shifting uncomfortably in your seat. The plot is simple, three best friends agree to murder each others horrible bosses. Riffing on Strangers on a Train and Throw Momma From the Train (which was itself riffing on Strangers, how very post-post), Horrible Bosses combines the squirmy suspense of the former and the darkly comic nasty streak of the latter to produce a very enjoyable and funny comedy.

Nick (Bateman) is working for a faceless corporation and taking all kinds of rubbish from his boss Dave (Kevin Spacey) with a view to an impending promotion. Dale is being sexually harassed by his boss Julia (Jennifer Aniston) and getting little sympathy from his friends and Kurt’s lovely boss just died leaving his cokehead idiot son (Colin Farrell) in charge. The guys are so miserable that they somehow come to the conclusion that their only solution is to “whack” their bosses.

The trick to pulling off this potentially tired little plot is to ensure that the cast of performers are on the ball at all times. Playing it safe with some of TV’s strongest comedy actors Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Jason Sudeikis (SNL) and Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), the three leads were clearly cast for skill and not box office draw. This ploy works, bigtime! The three actors hit every comic beat and squeeze every ounce of juice out of each joke. As loveable as these guys are, the bosses are equally despicable. Spacey, Aniston and Farrell are clearly having a blast here with their rather vaudeville characters. The chemistry and fun created by the cast reminds me of early Farrelly Brothers movies, where so much of the energy was created by actors just having a blast at being ridiculous. The villains are all breaking out of their usual moulds and playing to their underused comic abilities.

It may not be the most original story but it is delicately plotted so that the many twists and turns are given the right amount of comic punch. Sometimes simple is best and watching these hapless guys indulging this absurd fantasy is about as simple as comedy gets. There’s something about these wish-fulfilment comedies that can playfully strike a chord with something very primal in audiences. This enables a sort of forgiveness that encourages the essential suspension of disbelief. It’s necessary with films like this to avoid thoughts like “there’s no way they’d ACTUALLY do something like this”. That sort of thinking is utterly pointless and denies the viewer the opportunity to enjoy the ride. So, word of warning, this is not a documentary, this is a farcical comedy and should be treated as such.

Apart from the fact that this is rather conventional fare and the end could have used a bit more punch, Horrible Bosses is a hilarious comedy and thanks to the easy-on-the-eye cast and a colourful cinematographer it’s a very pleasant film to watch. The script is tight, the laughs are plentiful, and the jokes are naughty! What more could you want in a summer comedy?!

- Charlene Lydon (from: www.frankthemonkey.com)

The Guard

2011-07-15T12:26:00.002+01:00

Written & Directed by: John Michael McDonagh

Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot

Rating: 8/10

The Irish sense of humour is a strange beast; disrespectful but warm, xenophobic but friendly, indignant yet self-deprecating. A strange beast it may be but it is also one of this nations finest attributes. With The Guard, John Michael McDonagh has managed to capture the spirit of Irish humour with all it's darkness and all it's irreverent charm. Following Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Gleeson) during an uncharacteristically action-packed week on the beat in rural Galway, the film sees three philosphising drug smugglers arriving in town, followed closely by straight-laced FBI agent Wendell Everett (Cheadle).

Gerry is smart as a whip but doesn't suffer fools gladly and likes to indulge in drink, drugs and prostitutes whenever possible. He is not your conventional rural Irish guard. His intolerance of the bureaucracy involved in police work, especially a big case like this, is the backbone of the character but essentially he is also a man of great integrity and compassion where he feels it's deserved. As he becomes unwittingly embroiled in this case, Gerry manages to offend but ultimately endear himself to the straight-laced American Wendell Everett, who is getting something of a hard time from the locals. Over time these two highly intelligent men from completely different backgrounds learn to respect each other amidst a sea of mind games and cutting jibes flying both ways.

Don't be fooled by the elements of "bromance", The Guard is a character study, plain and simple. The plot and the supporting cast are secondary to exploring this fascinating character. Brendan Gleeson relishes the role of a lifetime with class, dignity and humour, allowing the character to remain just mysterious enough that we never know what to expect of him. This bravura performance helps to cover up some of the flaws in the film, most notably, the poor direction especially when it comes to the final act action scenes. As streamlined as the script is, the film would have benefited hugely from a more experienced director. That being said The Guard is hugely enjoyable, the jokes are killer, the main cast are superb and there is just enough intelligence to raise the bar, but not enough to make it feel pretentious.

Credit must go to Mark Strong, David Wilmot and Liam Cunningham for their portrayal of a trio of drug smugglers who are smart enough to know not to underestimate Gerry but stupid enough to think that they could emerge victorious. They are funny but somehow also menacing, giving the film an essential sense of danger. The dark undertones in the film help to ensure that audiences know that there is always something at stake and this is not your average comedy.

The Guard is exactly what the Irish film industry needs right now, a brave, solid genre film with enough substance to endear itself to an international market. With a cracking cast, an endlessly quotable script and a unique voice, this film is undoubtedly a classic of Irish cinema.

- Charlene Lydon

Cell 211

2011-07-15T12:03:00.001+01:00

Written by: Jorge Guerricercaechevarria, Daniel Monzon

Directed by: Daniel Monzon

Starring: Alberto Ammann, Luis Tosar, Marta Etura

Rating: 7/10

It is Juan Oliver's first day as a prison officer, a job he took to provide for his wife and forthcoming baby. Juan Oliver is a quiet, earnest, likeable young man with a more than usually intuitive. Unfortunately for him, as he is being given the tour of the prison all hell breaks loose as the prisoners attack the guards and take over the prison. Left for dead, abandoned by the guards, Juan Oliver finds himself stuck in the prison with no hope of escape. In order to survive, he poses as a new inmate and manages to befriend the leader of the prisoner, the powerfully charismatic but terrifying Malamadre (which, I believe translates as "son of a bitch").

As Juan Oliver becomes deeper embroiled in the negotiations and rises quickly through the ranks to become Malamadre's right hand man, he begins to see the dark underbelly of the authorities and his loyalty is swayed as his somewhat naive and optimistic view of the institution he works for falls asunder.

As a thriller, Cell 211 is a superior effort. The screenplay is intelligent, tight and well paced. The characters are defined and believable while the universally strong performances bring nuance to what could easily have been just a bunch of thugs. Recalling similar film like John Hillcoat's remarkable Ghosts of the Civil Dead and Hector Babenco's Carandiru (with which this film shares many traits), Cell 211 is a prison thriller that delivers. It may not be emotionally visceral enough to leave you haunted afterwards, but it is certainly a slick, brilliantly executed film. Director Daniel Monzon does not shy away from violence and cruelty, nor does he revel in it. There is a refreshing respect and fear of pain in this film. Every act of violence, whatever the reason behind it is harrowing without being gratuitous. The film's strength lies in the fact that we stay with Juan Oliver throughout and even as his character faces the darkest of moments, the audience remains with him, feeling his madness, feeling his pain. However, the film does allow itself to get bogged down in political preachiness which can be tiresome after a while.

The focus on media interaction gives the film a fresh, contemporary spin, setting it apart from other, more claustrophobic prison movies. There is a sense that what's going on outside the prison shocks the prisoners as much as what's happening inside the prison shocks the outside world. A solid effort, Cell 211 deserves an audience and I have no doubt that it will find it. Perhaps it's small theatrical release won't have them coming in their droves but this is one that should catch on with a DVD release. Worth a watch.

- Charlene Lydon

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

2011-07-15T11:07:00.002+01:00

Written by: Steve Kloves

Directed by: David Yates

Starring:
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes

Rating: 8/10

Many years ago, about a decade now, I decided that difficult as it may be I was going to use the medium of film to experience the story of Harry Potter. I decided against reading the books despite the many temptations over the years. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was the culmination of my decade of patience and I was proud of myself for having achieved this small feat.

As a non-reader of the book I feel I have definitely missed out on some of the more intricate plotting that is glossed over in the films for the sake of brevity. I can feel that some of the characterisation is lacking, as well as a lot of background information that enriches the plot. That being said, these films do a remarkable job at telling the story of Harry, his friends and the magical world he inhabits.

The final chapter of the story is about as hyped as a film could be. A decade of fretting about "he who must not be named" finally pays off as Hogwarts finally faces the Death-Eaters in an epic battle of both wits and magic.

The films opens with the truly breathtaking image of the dreaded Dementors hovering around Hogwarts, now a very different place than the benevolent, warm home to young wizards we’ve come to know and love. This opening shot, dark and beautiful, sets the tone for what is to come. The ensuing film is visually grandiose and emotionally dark enough to ensure that the audience can feel genuinely fearful for the lives of the characters. Anyone could die, it’s a cruel story and Voldemort is a seriously dangerous presence.

The first act of he film sees Harry, Ron and Hermione on an exhilarating chase through a Dickensian goblin bank in search of one of Voldemorts horcruxes (objects where Voldemort has hidden part of his soul in the hope that he will remain immortal). This part of the film is fun and lively but it feel a little redundant as we patiently wait for the real battle to begin. As soon as Harry, Hermione and Ron get back to Hogwarts and are reunited with their friends things start to seriously pick up. Battles are fought, families are torn apart, young lives are lost and secrets are revealed. From this point on, the film becomes everything a fan could have hoped for!

There are some pretty serious plot points that are lost on non-readers like me, as they are washed over in the hope that you’re having so much fun you’ll turn a blind eye. Good strategy and it totally worked! On me at least. I was having way too much fun on the edge of my seat to care that I didn’t quite understand why certain things were happening. It’s cheating of the highest order but at this stage in the story the need for further magical gobbledegook and funny new words is not a priority for me. I’d rather go along for the ride and not have to worry too much about exposition. Anyway, this instalment is strictly about the characters, their relationships and the culmination of everything that has come before and how it has fit together to bring us to this point. This final part of the story is about resolving the story in a meaningful way and giving us an end point for the characters who have so richly (and subtly) evolved throughout the series. At this point, I must mention Neville Longbottom who is a character I dismissed as comic fodder but who surprised me by stepping up to the plate and becoming a true hero in his own right. This is a character who has evolved slowly over the course of series and who has sneaked into our hearts by proving again and again, much like Ron that being born with super wizard skills isn’t everything, it’s overcoming the obstacle of mediocrity that counts.

Having said that, I would be remiss in leaving out the wonderful Malfoy family. I was surprised at where the story took them, but delighted with the non-judgmental sense of understanding and (almost) pity for them as they play their part in the story. Lucius, Narcissus and Draco have long been one of my favourite elements of the Harry Potter universe (not least because of Narcissus’ wonderful hair and costumes) and for me, their story in the final film was immensely satisfying, brave and lacking in sentimentality.

The final act sees some wonderful twists and developments concerning a character that is close to my heart (no spoilers here) and a fresh perspective breathes new life to a character many people may have written off. HP readers will know what I’m referring to but I won’t discuss it any further here for fear of spoiling anything. But I will say this: the plot development in question is the single most wonderful thing the series has ever done and it made every flaw in the series worthwhile, for me at least and opened my eyes to the vastness the story and the clever plotting that has been so subtly interwoven from the very start.

The cultural impact of the Harry Potter books is undeniable and although the films have never quite been masterpieces (except perhaps The Prisoner of Azkaban), they have still consistently made for entertaining blockbusters, always reliable as solid films, if not always perfect. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is not perfect. Yet again, David Yates proves himself to be a mediocre director with a great eye for visuals. The 3D is pointless, I would definitely recommend the 2D version and there are some hugely significant emotional moments in the film that felt much flatter than they should have. However, the film is a triumphant conclusion to the story and a fantastically thrilling summer blockbuster. Prepare to shed a tear or two because things get quite emotional in the second half…

Goodbye for now Harry, Ron, Hermione, Albus, Severus, Draco, Voldemort, et al, I look forward to getting to know you in more depth when I begin the journey all over again in book form!

- Charlene Lydon

We Love Summer...Weekend at Bernies!

2011-07-11T20:59:00.004+01:00

The beauty of summer movies is that they don’t have to be classy, they don’t have to be clever, they just need to be fun! For me at least, Weekend at Bernie’s has a lot to offer those in need of some summer madness. For those of you who have not had the pleasure, here’s the plot in a nutshell. Larry and Richard, two down on their luck office workers uncover an anomaly which suggests someone is ripping off the insurance corporation they work for. Their shady boss Bernie, the real culprit, invites them to his place in The Hamptons during a massive New York heatwave where he plans to have them ‘silenced’. The plot thickens when the dodgy characters Bernie is involved with decide to ‘silence’ him instead, killing him and leaving him propped up at his desk with sunglasses on. When Larry and Richard arrive for their well-deserved weekend of fun, they realise what has happened but fate (and the prospect of ‘getting laid’) intervenes to ensure that they can’t quite find the time to phone the cops.

In the true spirit of ’80s comedy, a lot of over-the-top nonsense ensues whereby Larry and Richard must pretend to everyone, from party to party that Bernie is alive, just kind of ‘wasted’. This is easier than you imagine when everyone’s an airhead, a floozy or just completely hammered for the whole weekend. This is 1980’s New York we’re talking about here, hedonism is rampant for the well-heeled. Weekend at Bernie’s feels like Some Like it Hot crossed with a Bret Easton Ellis novel, completely ridiculous, over the top and slyly commenting on the hollow lifestyles of the rich and famous. Is that a stretch? Maybe it is.

At the heart of Weekend at Bernie’s is the desperate hunger to get out of the heat of Manhattan. The director does a good job of painting a picture of the unpleasantness of New York City in the sticky heatwave. It looks like the last place you’d ever want to be and therefore somewhat believably gives the guys an incentive to want to stay in The Hamptons at all cost. Disbelief must be suspended tremendously if you are to have any fun watching this film, but if you can just roll with it, it’s very funny and has an unjustly ignored fantastic central performance from Terry Kiser as Bernie. For two thirds of the film, he is dead. He has no lines. But the physicality of his performance is more than admirable, it’s downright brilliant!

With a premise like this, you’ll either love the film or hate the film, but it’s difficult not to crack a guilty smile here and there at the sheer absurdity and hideous lack of morality displayed by pretty much everyone in the film. Necrophilia, grave-robbing, desecration of a corpse via staple-gun, if it weren’t so damn sunny and nonchalant this would be a dark, dark piece of cinema. We’d all be shifting uncomfortably in our seats, unable to stay on board with these horribly selfish characters. But if you can allow yourself the indulgence Weekend at Bernieswill evoke that feeling of desperately trying to enjoy the perfect summer weekend when you know it’s fleeting, even if you have to cart a corpse around with you to do it.

Sun, sand, women in bikinis, speedboats, creepy kids armed with a bucket and spade and of course a dead guy with his shoelaces tied to your shoelaces as you cruise the beach… that’s the recipe for a great summer movie!

From www.filmireland.net

P.S. Best Halloween Costume EVER -

Bridesmaids Premiere

2011-06-10T12:45:00.004+01:00

** Disclaimer: I swear I have been in no way swayed by the kind attentions of the fabulously funny Ms. Kristen Wiig...

Written by: Kristen Wiig & Annie Mumolo

Directed by Paul Feig

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Chris O'Dowd, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Hamm

Rating: 8/10

"Better than The Hangover!" That's what the poster says...since when is The Hangover the bar by which great comedy should be judged? Well, whatever the case may be, that poster boast is definitely correct. Bridesmaids, in the guise of a gross-out comedy is beyond anything The Hangover could ever dream of...

Source: entertainment.ie

Last night saw the director and cast of Bridesmaids walk the pink carpet at the Savoy Cinema, Dublin for the Irish premiere. Director Paul Feig (who I was tickled to recognise as Sabrina's biology teacher from Sabrina the Teenage Witch) along with stars Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live, Whip It, Knocked Up), Melissa McCarthy (Gilmore Girls, Mike and Molly) and Chris O'Dowd (The IT Crowd) were all on hand to answer questions and meet their fans (and in Chris's case, a swarm of cousins) and they appeared before the screening to introduce the film.

The hype from the States was huge but in my eyes the film more than lived up to it. Don't get me wrong, Bridesmaids is crass, silly, fun and follows the classic rom-com template. There's nothing new here. It's just that it gets every convention and nails it perfectly. It takes every low-brow joke and gives it class. It takes potentially cliched characters and make you seriously feel for them. A combination of top-notch performances and first-class direction from Paul Feig ensured every comic beat is hit, and the best is made of every joke.

The story follows Annie (Kristen Wiig), a woman on the verge of forty, whose business collapsed and boyfriend scuppered, taking with him her sense of self and every ounce of her energy and ambition. Her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) announces she's getting married and she wants Annie to be her maid of honour but Lillian's new, prettier, richer, sweeter best friend Helen (Rose Byrne) is trying every underhanded trick in the book to upstage Annie. At the core of the film is Annie's journey from decadent passivity to realisation that she has hit rock bottom to a slow, realistic effort to find her spark again. The journey is truly a touching one and it helps tremendously that Kristen Wiig puts in a powerhouse performance. Her quick, razor-sharp wit and vulnerability allows us to forgive the unfortunate behaviour she exhibits at her lowest point.

Source: entertainment.ie

Having said that, this is by no means a depressing film and unlike Annie, it doesn't allow itself to wallow for a second. Not a minute goes by without a superb gag and the supporting cast are such great performers that they make even the most gutter-worthy gags hilarious...and believe me, there's some gags in this movie that would make the Farrelly Brothers blush. The chemistry between the cast is electric and the developing relationships between the women are believable, but most importantly the developing romance between Annie and Officer Nathan Rhodes (O'Dowd) is really sweet and felt completely natural. Chris O'Dowd more than holds his own here as the good-natured, lovable policeman who falls for Annie. And as much as we all love Jon Hamm (who, again, proves his comic capabilities are second to none), we can't wait until he's out of the picture and Annie can pick up the pieces of her waning self-esteem with the warm, encouraging Nathan. He must also be applauded for not falling into any of the usual Oirish cliches but managing to represent Irish men in a wonderful light. Full of humour, smiling eyes and sly charm, he is a far cry from the characters he usually plays and pulls it off remarkably.

Rose Byrne, Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy are all outstanding in their roles, each making the most of their meaty roles, superbly written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. This screenplay is deserving of all kinds of awards but I predict that, like Judd Apatow's horribly overlooked Funny People it will probably be deemed too much fun to earn awards.

I can only presume that Bridesmaids will be as successful here as in the States. The magical combination of girly and gross-out should satisfy everyone and the balance of low-brow and high-brow should even keep the grumpy critics happy!

- Charlene Lydon

TRAILER:

X Men: First Class

2011-06-05T23:07:00.000+01:00

Written by: Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult

Rating: 6/10

The X-Men as a concept is cinematic gold. Not only are they colourful, plentiful and beautiful (in a freaky mutant kinda way) but the central theme is one of acceptance, both by society and by one's self. There is always much to connect with in these characters as they live through the same struggles as many people do in their daily lives (in a freaky mutant kinda way). The first three movies were hugely successful (though the third one was panned by critics) and I think a huge amount of their success can be attributed to the Capraesque qualities of the stories; the little guy's struggle to belong and to overcome the authorities in order to gain acceptance. The political struggle which made up so much of these films is complex and universal. It is here where the first three succeed and I think it is here where the prequel First Class fails.

X-Men: First Class tells the origin story of Professor X and Magneto, played in the original films by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan respectively and played in this film by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. As they fight against the evil Sebastian Shaw who is trying to prompt the Cuban Missile Crisis in a preposterous plot device that instantly lost me before any of the other nonsense even started to bug me, Charles and Eric (who will later become Professor X and Magneto) set about finding other mutants and banding together to form a super team to help the CIA track down and stop Shaw, former Nazi collaborator and murderer of Magneto's mother. However, Shaw already has his own mutants fighting his corner in the form of Emma Frost, a telepath who can also turn to diamond and distract warm-blooded men with her killer bod and the fact that she wears her underwear as outerwear, and Azazel a red-skinned fellow who can create and control mini tornados.

The good mutant-bad mutant dynamic is tons of fun. The mutant powers, the celebration of their skills, and the chemistry between the cast all makes for an enjoyable blockbuster. Not to mention the ingenious setting of the film in the 1960s which creates all kinds of aesthetic delights. Director Matthew Vaughn takes full advantage of this conceit and the visuals are stunning, and the first hour feels like an unfortunately non-existent episode of Mad Men where Betty Draper moonlights as a night-club vixen! The characters are colourful, the young cast are exciting and everything is going swimmingly until...that's right, the messy third act.

The third act sees all the fun drain from the film and not only that but it becomes a very cheesy bromance between Charles and Eric as X tries to convince Eric to curb his vengeance-seeking and find inner peace so that he may use his powers for good and not cross to the dark side. Of course, since we know how it all ends up, the rather done-to-death pep talks not only make us think Prof X is a bit of a know it all, but also bores us to tears and ruins all the fun we were having in the first half.

Another major problem with the film is the banging home of a lot of the issues that have already been very aptly covered in the first films. The mutants struggle with how they see themselves, and with fears of how the world will react to them once they come out of hiding. This kind of "Dawson'-Creekery" detracts from the sweetness of the developing relationships and feels, to me at least, like a cheap way of injecting some depth to proceedings. Depth is unnecessary when you're having so much fun, just look at the first Spiderman movie, simple but perfect!

I do have to point out that the cast was definitely a highlight for me. Rising stars such as Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Zoe Kravitz are full of energy and charisma that it makes me actually feel excited for the future of Hollywood cinema. More established stars like McAvoy, Rose Byrne and a wonderfully villainous Kevin Bacon also work really well in their roles. Universal praise has been lavished upon Michael Fassbender but his ever evolving series of accents (seriously, he was a full-blown Kerryman by the end!) were extremely distracting and it also has to be said that it's difficult to go wrong with a character that intricate.

One of cinema's greatest tragedies is a film that starts off well and has the makings of a classic but for some reason, usually bad writing, veers wildly off course in the second half. That was what upset me about this film. The writers got so caught up in the overly complicated plot that they forgot about the fun and for all their effort, still came out with a messy endgame. That being said, it is by no means a terrible addition to the Marvel Studios oeuvre, it was just like a date that wouldn't put out...got me all excited but sent me home with slumped shoulders!

- Charlene Lydon

Top Ten MTV Movie Awards Best Kisses!

2011-06-05T22:05:00.001+01:00

Compiled by yours truly for the brand new entertainment website rukkle.com

http://rukkle.com/movies/top-ten-mtv-best-movie-kiss-winners/

Check it out...but if you're easily offended, don't click on the video for the Bound kiss...it's a whopper!

Javier Bardem Confirmed to Play Roland Deschain!

2011-04-28T17:57:00.001+01:00

“The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed”…

With these words began the epic journey of Stephen King’s magnum opus, ‘The Dark Tower

It has been a long and winding road since the first of seven books was published in 1982. The Gunslinger, written as a stand-alone or possibly to be continued to a bigger story was a relatively simple western yarn, albeit with an otherworldly twist. The book was inspired by a poem by Robert Browning, The Lord of the Rings and Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. The ‘slinger himself Roland Deschain was a hero modelled on Clint Eastwood and had many characteristics of Tolkien’s Aragorn character. The Gunslinger is one of King’s classics and although often forgotten, given that it’s outside of his usual generic realm, the book is considered one of his greatest works. The scope and beauty of the novel. The unique landscape, the moral ambuguity, the shocking conclusion and the mythical chase between the gunslinger and the man in black are all reasons why this book stands as one of Kings most legendary contributions to the world of literature.

In 1987, King followed up The Gunslinger with it’s rather more sci-fi tinged sequel The Drawing of the Three. The series progressed from here, expanding it’s world from our dimension, to many other ones, spiritual and otherwise. It entered the world of the post-modern when characters from other King novels became characters in the series and, in Song of Susannah (2004), the sixth book in the series, Roland and his friends travel to Maine to meet and save the life of Stephen King himself. The story finally found its resolution with the publication of the aptly-titled The Dark Tower in 2004, though the stories have lived on in the form of some fantastic graphic novels and comics and King has recently announced a new book set for publication in 2012.

The world created by King in his Dark Tower series is incredibly ambitious, post-modern, maddeningly unapologetic and always unpredictable. Because of the story’s non-linear format, it’s massive scope, unusual use of language and its less than crowd-pleasing ending (no spoilers here, you’ll have to read for yourselves) the inevitable film adaptation has frightened off many a filmmaker. In November 2010, Ron Howard announced that he, along with producer Brian Grazer and writer Akiva Goldsman were manning up to tackle the project. But they warned that this will not be just any project. It will consist of at least three epic films, accompanied by television mini-series in between. This sparked debate amongst us members of the ka-tet as to whether this team was the right team or not. Of course the first and best way for them to prove themselves is in the casting. Popular suggestions were Viggo Mortensen, best known for playing the character of Aragorn in ‘The Lord of the Rings’, Josh Holloway, who played Sawyer on ‘Lost’, Hugh Jackman and Guy Pearce. More recently Christian Bale was rumoured but this wasn’t a particularly popular choice with fans.

It has been confirmed that Oscar-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem has been officially cast to play Roland. It makes sense in many ways. He is ruggedly masculine and tough as nails as displayed in his Oscar-winning turn in No Country For Old Men but has a deeply intelligent kindness in his manner (see his Oscar nominated role in The Sea Inside). Roland must embody the kind of old-fashioned masculinity rarely found in cinema these days but he must also be able to show a deeply spiritual, romantic and passionate side that seeps out slowly (very slowly!) over time. The Roland we think we know from the first book evolves as the series progresses, completing the classic heroic character arc over time.

So can Javier Bardem fill the boots of Roland Deschain? Would you have preferred one of the other actors? Or would you have waited until we eventually found the right portal in Mid-World that could transport us to a dimension where Clint Eastwood was still young enough to play him? Or should ‘The Dark Tower’ series be left alone altogether?

- Charlene Lydon

Insidious: Q&A with Leigh Whannell and James Wan

2011-04-18T14:37:00.002+01:00

After a terrifying ninety minutes sitting through Insidious I wondered, as I always do, why is it that I can’t reason myself out of being scared in the cinema. As a seasoned cinema-goer and horror-lover I still find myself being extremely uncool in the cinema when it comes to scary films. Not all scary films, mind you. Just the ones where you sense from the first minute that the director knows horror films and intends to use and/or subvert every trick in the book to scare you. From that moment on I trust nothing. Every camera move is a potential lurking creature. If I spot a little too much space in the frame I worry that it is to allow space for the monster/killer/evil puppet to jump out.

From what I know of James Wan as a director, I know he is a huge fan of the genre and knows all the tricks and isn’t afraid to exploit them to scare the pants off an audience. Having said that, Insidious is a relatively slow-moving haunted house thriller with admirable restraint and for all my hiding behind my fingers, staring at the floor and taking off my glasses so the screen would be blurry, the actual scares were spread out nicely.

When we first met Leigh and James they gave a brief introduction to the film and complain that the audiences they have seen the film with in the UK during this tour have not responded like the Americans do, with screaming and yelling. They ask us to be sure to let loose with the reactions (which we Irish are not capable of doing in the cinema). To egg us on Leigh stays behind for the opening credits to shout "Boo!" at us a few times. I think to myself that this sums up what these guys are about. They are filmmaking tricksters who scare people out of mischief and delight in their reactions.

The post-screening Q&A with the writer/director team behind the movie and also such films as Saw and Dead Silence was illuminating and confirmed my suspicion that these guys were intent on proving themselves capable of making something truly frightening, not dependent on blood and gore.

Leigh and James explain that when they first met at university, RMIT in Melbourne, they were outcasts, “everyone was into Wim Wenders and whatever film Yoko Ono had made and we were into Sam Raimi and Dario Argento”. They began working together in college and after they graduated they found themselves and going from job to job and writing together on the side. When asked why Saw was so successful Leigh admits, “we were surprised at how it connected with the public zeitgeist. It played at Sundance and in Toronto and was released at Halloween 2004 up against The Grudge which was huge but it connected with audiences and it turned out to be a great word of mouth movie.”

When it was pointed out that there really isn’t much violence in the first Saw movie, especially in comparison to its sequels, Leigh is in complete agreement. “There’s not much at all because the first movie was completely focussed on the main plot, the two guys trapped in the room, not the jigsaw traps. We loved the story and we loved the ending.” But how has the success of Saw and in particular it’s six (yes, SIX) sequels affected their careers? Is it difficult to avoid being typecase. James passionately exclaims that “I’m branded with a label I don’t really care for”, perhaps he is referring to the label of originator of the torture porn sub-genre and not just typecast as a horror director. Saw is often cited as the first film to popularise the torture porn film, which would become worryingly popular in the mid-late noughties. “I’m really proud of Saw but I’m not into gore, I just love scary films. With Insidious, as a director, I just wanted to prove to people that I can make an atmospheric film with no blood and guts.”

The discussion moved on to the process of making a scary film and how you make a film scary. Leigh insists that it is “instinctual” and goes on to explain that there are three phases of filmmaking and each one gives an opportunity to refine the scares. “There’s writing, shooting and editing. With each phase comes changes and new scares are added”. They tried to capture what they themselves found scary and much of the film comes from stories they heard growing up. The first idea was astral projection and then they worked from there.

When asked about the film’s obvious allusions to Poltergeist they denied there was any sort of homage happening. “We don’t approach films as homages. We were excited when we had an idea that nobody has seen before (astral projection) but we housed the film within a “haunted house” and that’s why it’s like Poltergeist. It’s a staple. Certain staples you need to do if you’re working within a genre. If you make a western you need a man with a gun. Otherwise it’s just a film about farmers.”

Insidious proudly avoids using special effects as much as possible. The film is all about atmosphere and lurking shadows and scary -looking people. They were asked if horror films get less scary as special effects get more advanced. The early Saw films were more simple but later it became about the traps. Leigh points out that “me and James believe that special effects are the antithesis of good horror”.

One thing that is essential in a haunted house story is a creepy kid. Insidious has no shortage of those. But is working with children a horror film unto itself? James explains, “I have worked with kids a lot in my movies but I have never them through this much. Ty (Simpkins, who plays the comatose son of Renais and Josh) was a lovely kid but he had a tough time doing scenes with the demon. He would cry, real tears, and I’d feel so sorry for him! He was eight years old and terrified of the dark. He just couldn’t get past the fact that it wasn’t real. We would bring him to the makeup trailer to see the actor who played the demon getting his makeup done. Over time he started to relax a little.”

Despite the Saw franchise being such a huge success, Leigh and James wanted to keep the budget for Insidious small in order to obtain complete creative control, a point that the guys agree is essential in order to make a good horror film. As a result of the restrictive budget, the shoot was a mere 22 days and it was shot entirely on the Red digital camera. James co-edited the film himself which he felt was a great help in shooting so quickly, “It was certainly challenging but I knew what I wanted and knew how I would edit as I went along. It was the first time I’d used the digital format and in post I could do a lot more.” The change in technology was symbolic of the style he was going for. “I was making an old-fashioned horror film but with a contemporary edge.”

Throughout the film, there’s an extremely frightening tune “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” by Tiny Tim. The sing is highly effective and undoubtedly would give anyone a case of the willies even were it not in any way connected to a scary film. A member of the audience was curious where the song had come from. It turns out it was as simple as James calling Leigh during the writing of the script and asking him if there’s any way we can fit this creepy song into the script. They exchange knowing looks and laugh; this has happened a number of times and Leigh tells the stories of Saw’s infamous jaw-trap. “James calls me up, explains the idea of the jaw, trap and how the victim has to find a key or this thing is gonna rip her head apart but they ket is in this guy’s stomach. I said “Great!” and he said “If you put a creepy doll in it this will be brilliant!” I asked “How are we gonna get a creepy doll in there?” and James said “He’ll just ride in on a bike”” and that’s exactly how the story ended up going. It seems James is to be held responsible for the creepy puppet imagery in their films (his Twitter handle is actually creepypuppet).

As the Q&A is drawing to a close they are asking the obligatory “what are you doing next” question. Leigh explains that he is writing a sci-fi with James in mind to direct. They want to get away from the horror genre. Leigh is also working on an animated film, an Australian drama and a comedy. When asked if it is hard to sell other genres, James makes the fair point that it’s easier for Leigh as a writer because if he writes something they can physically see it and if they like it they’ll go with it but it’s harder for someone to take a chance on a director.

A final question asked how long the film took to edit. James explained that when he edits he eats, sleeps and edits. He had a rough cut finished in three weeks. It was important to him to edit the film and he insisted to the producers who were apparently pleased to hear that they wouldn’t have to use their limited funds to hire and editor.

- Charlene Lydon
From www.filmireland.net

Scream - A Retrospective

2011-04-11T21:20:00.002+01:00

It has long been known that teenagers are where it’s at when it comes to the horror genre. In the 1950’s it was discovered by some shifty studio executive that teenagers have money to spend and they love to spend it on being scared. So Hollywood began to churn out inexpensive B-pictures with provocative titles such as I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Attack of the Giant Leeches and Teenagers From Outer Space. These titles were silly, not very creative and had some really dreadful special effects but they still managed to pack the drive-in on a Saturday night.

The 1970’s saw teen horror re-popularised mostly by the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween. To this day it is one of the most successful indie films of all time and it created a sub-genre, the “stalk n’ slash” movie which of course went on to inspire thousands of imitators, none of which would ever match the terrifying heights of Halloween. Teenagers and adults alike were piling into cinemas for movies such as Friday the 13^th, Prom Night and When a Stranger Calls, all similar to Halloween in their depiction of teen behaviour and the killers who track them.

The 1980s was better known for the “video nasty” phase of horror history. Not that it didn’t give us some classics but the direction of the films veered away from teenage babysitters in general during that period. The 80’s did however give us Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street which went on to become one of the most revered horror films of all time, along with it’s outrageously beloved child murderer, Freddy Kreuger.

Many would claim that Scream was the first “meta” horror and while it was certainly the film that popularised self-referential horror, lets not forget that Wes Craven made New Nightmare two years before Scream, which was a film, set in the real world in which the actress, Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street becomes haunted by Freddy Kreuger as she is on the brink of making a new Freddy movie. The self-referential nature of this film makes it one of the most historically important films of the genre but it was unfortunately overlooked, possibly presumed to be yet another stinker of a sequel. It was with Scream in 1996 that the “ironic slasher” was born.

Those who remember the release of Scream will undoubtedly remember it as something of a genre revolution. For a period, teenagers sneaked into cinemas all over the world to scream and giggle; sleepovers full of teenage girls had never been so afraid and no one answered the phone when they were in the house alone.

For those unfamiliar with the premise, Scream tells the story of Sidney Prescott, whose mother was brutally murdered a year earlier and now a ghost-masked serial killer is tormenting her with phone calls, movie trivia and a series of bloody murders. The fictional town of Woodsboro is in a panic. Who is the masked serial killer? Can hot-shot reporter Gale Weathers solve the crime and win her Emmy with the help of the sweet but dim Deputy Dewey? The plot is as basic as they come but what sets this film apart is Scream's borderline satirical awareness of the genre allowing it to play homage to all the great slasher films of the past while bursting the door wide open for a new wave of slice n’ dice murderous mayhem in cinema.

Scream follows the same basic conventions of a slasher film but with a knowing smile. These kids are well-versed in movie terminology and the sagely nerd Randy explains the conventions of the horror genre. Rule #1: You can't have sex, since only virgins can outsmart the killer in the end; Rule #2: You can't drink or do drugs, since like rule #1, they are sins. Rule #3: Don't ever say "I'll be right back." Needless to say, Randy’s rules are fairly accurate and allow the audience a tantalising prediction of who’s going to die.

Scream stands out, not only because of its tongue-in-cheek genre-bending but also because it is damn scary! The scares come hard and fast, starting with the classic Drew Barrymore opening sequence. There is something untrustworthy about Scream’s “the rules are there are no rules” cavalier attitude towards scares that keeps the audiences feeling uncomfortable for the entire film. You think you know where the jumps are coming, but since you also know that they are playing with expectations, you can never quite trust the rules you think you know. Another unique element of Scream is the self-aware nature of these teenagers. Kevin Williamson would go on to create an entire generation of over-thinking, verbose teenagers with his TV show Dawson’s Creek and it’s clear to see his pattern emerging here. The cast and characters are equally colourful and much of Scream’s power is wielded in the energy and likeability of the young cast. Unlike the teenagers in previous horror films, these kids were not so interested in sex and drugs that they are oblivious to the fact that they are being picked off one by one. These teens are well aware of horror movie clichés. They know what is expected of them and know how to avoid being killed. As the panic spreads, they look to the movies to figure out how to survive. Also, when the films killers are finally revealed it is their disturbing relationship to the horror genre that has inspired them. But they are quick to dismiss that horror movies actually make people commit murder, they just help them come up with interesting ways to do it; “movies don’t create psychos, movies make psychos more creative”. Williamson was unafraid to create two sides to the “video nasties” argument, giving the audience something meaty to mull over after the movie ended, if they were so inclined.

Scream was a gigantic success both critically and financially and so it sparked a new wave in teen horror, many of which were pretty terrible. There were even two sequels to Scream, the first of which was a winking discussion of the rules of the sequel. It was reasonably clever but not as good as the first (but then again, isn’t that the rule about sequels?). Scream 3 however was an absolute disaster, hated by pretty much everyone and especially infuriating because its twist ending managed to ruin elements of the original film. Scream 4 is a dissection, fifteen years on, of the effect of the original film on horror films and how the genre has moved on, with particular attention paid to the Blair Witch inspired tendency of horror films to be based on supposed “found footage”. Whether or not the fourth film manages to become a worthy addition to the franchise, it gives us the perfect opportunity to reflect on the original Scream film and to appreciate it for its sense of humour, its cinematic wisdom, it’s uniquely postmodern concept (this is a concept that could only be used once, any followers were mere copycats), and it’s ability to scare the crap out of audiences all over the world, even the most seasoned horror buff!

Wake Wood

2011-03-23T18:13:00.002Z

Directed by: David Keating

Written by: David Keating, Brendan McCarthy

Starring: Aidan Gillen, Eva Birthistle, Ruth McCabe, Timothy Spall, Ella Connolly.

Rating: 6/10

One of the first films to fly the newly reformed Hammer banner, Wakewood is an Irish horror film quite unlike any you’ve seen before. In a lot of ways, it can be accused of being a magpie, picking little bits from other movies but the big picture can only be described as a true original.

The story sees a young couple, David and Louise devastated by the death of their daughter Alice who, in a horribly disturbing scene, is mauled to death by a dog. They move to the small rural town of Wake Wood, where David gets a job as the local vet to a town full of farmers. Soon after they move to the town they notice strange things happening and unusual behaviour within the community. After accidentally witnessing a ritual involving farm machinery, blood-letting and rebirth, they realise that there’s more to this town than meets the eye. They are told that the ritual can bring someone back from the dead but only for three days and the dead person must be dead less than a year. Despite the fact that Alice is dead a little longer than that they take their chances and go ahead with the ritual. As expected, things don’t go as planned for the reunion with their daughter.

The most memorable thing about this film is its very visceral use of gore. The deaths her are all painful to behold (especially unpleasant is a farmer being crushed by a bull) and the detailed look at the machinations of the ritual is commendable and my favourite part of the film.

The chemistry between David (Gillen) and Louise (Birthistle) leaves a lot to be desired and the breakdown between them feels slightly contrived but the film is at its strongest when exploring the supporting characters such as the evil-eyed Peggy O’Shea (Ruth McCabe) and the creepy ringleader Arthur (Timothy Spall). The supporting cast are wonderful and Ella Connolly does a great job with the dual task of charming us and scaring the pants off us.

From the genuinely disturbing imagery to the inner domestic strife, this film is unsettling throughout. David Keating’s direction doesn’t mean to make us jump, it dares us to keep watching. I must say I was distracted by the film’s tendency to indulge in homage to other films a bit too much, particularly Don’t Look Now and Pet Sematary but there is plenty to enjoy in this solid horror film. It is action packed and the special effects are top-notch. If you enjoy a good splatterfest then this will be for you. However, if you like your horror films subtle then perhaps avoid Wake Wood.

- Charlene Lydon
(from Film Ireland: http://www.filmireland.net/2011/03/24/wake-wood/)

Source Code

2011-03-22T15:37:00.003Z

Written by: Ben Ripley

Directed by: Duncan Jones

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga, Michelle Monaghan, Jeffrey Wright

Rating: 8/10

Duncan Jones made some serious waves in 2009 with his debut film Moon, an instant classic that saw Sam Rockwell living in isolation on a space station on the moon. Needless to say, the pressure on his sophomore output is extreme. For his second film, Jones chose Ben Ripley’s Source Code. It is easy to see why the script caught his attention and I’m pleased to say that his hands were most certainly the right place to put it.

Source Code begins on a train. Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up to find himself in transit, sitting across from a beautiful stranger, Christina, who seems to know him. She calls him Sean, but that’s not his name. She is familiar and behaves as if they are old friends and perhaps something more. Colter panics and is completely confused by what’s going on and as Christina tries to calm him, the train explodes. Colter wakes up in a dark room, bound, with Vera Farmiga’s earnest but friendly face peering at him from a computer screen. She explains that he is connected to a computer programme, Source Code, that will allow him to relive the last eight minutes of another man’s life. This man, Sean, died in a train bomb attack. Colter must use his time on the train to investigate what is going on and try to deduce who the terrorists are so that he can give the information to the military in the hope that they can prevent the rest of the series of threatened attacks.

The less said about what happens next the better. A generic twist on Groundhog Day, the story changes direction many times as it progresses and gives the audience not only a brilliantly plotted mystery but also a clever back story. Both the central bomb storyline and the story of Colter Stevens journey to the Source Code are equally interesting and deftly woven together, keeping the story tight and the action gripping.

The pressure is on for Gyllenhaal to prove he’s up to the dual role of intellectual leading man and action hero. He balances brains and brawn nicely and there’s something touchingly human about his huge eyes staring from his gaunt face that raises this film to a level about most films of its ilk. His performance is affecting on a human level and believable on a physical level. Given that he is on screen for almost the whole film he is commendable here as a character to invest in. There’s something in Gyllenhaals boyish grin that makes him a vulnerable everyman, even when he’s in action mode and this is extremely important in getting the audience to invest emotionally when the time comes. In all the action and mayhem, the quiet, more profound moments are given to us by Michelle Monaghan as an innocent bystander caught up in the plot and tragically destined to die and Vera Farmiga playing a solider caught between her head and her heart. Both give the film warmth against a cold, clinical backdrop of a train and a military facility.

Source Code is a hugely ambitious thriller that many will accuse of thinking it’s cleverer than it is. I don’t think that's the case at all. The twists in the film aren’t ground-breaking but they aren’t played to shock, they are provided as a means of telling this story in the most entertaining, emotive and intelligent way possible. And for my money, it worked! As mainstream action-thrillers go, this is top notch. Enjoyable on many levels and if you’re not into the self-important undertones that belie the story, just enjoy it for its excitement, its commendable writing and skilled performances.

Great fun!

The Adjustment Bureau

2011-03-22T13:34:00.001Z

Written & Directed by: George Nolfi

Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Terence Stamp

Rating: 8/10

The Adjustment Bureau is a film that wears it’s heart on its sleeve and its head in The Twilight Zone. The film begins with what looks like a propaganda piece for Davis Norris (Damon), a young, handsome and, most importantly, working-class politician who is running for Congress. He is well-dressed, genuine and cares about the little guy, making him a shoo-in for his constituency. That is, until a newspaper runs some unsavoury photographs of him from his wilder days. His lead drops away and he loses the election.

David is crushed and as he rehearses his concession speech in the men’s toilets in a swanky hotel, he realises he is not alone. There is a beautiful young woman (Blunt) hiding away in a cubicle, on the run from hotel security for crashing a wedding. In a meet-cute straight out of a Capra film, the pair hit it off instantly and she inspires him with her free-spirited nature and her easy manner. When David’s aide tells him it’s time to go, she dashes off into the night leaving David aghast and madly in love. She also left him inspired. He discards his old speech and replaces it with an improvised speech about the falsities that he presents as a politician, the thought and man-power that goes into choosing his tie and his shoes and he promises that he is the real deal and he will no longer buy into such nonsense. His powerful speech resonates with his constituents and his profile is raised making a sure thing for the next election…if he chooses to run.

Despite all the positive attention, David has only one thing on his mind. The woman he met on election night. When he accidentally bumps into her on the bus and the spark between them is as powerful as it was the first time, his prayers have been answered.

Meanwhile, shadowy men in fedoras and trenchcoats are thrown into a panic. How did this happen? This wasn’t part of the plan! They do everything in their power to ensure that this couple are kept apart so David can go back to the path he is supposed to be on and fulfil his destiny.

The rest of the film sees these shadowy characters following David and trying to convince him to never see her again. But, the heart wants what the heart wants and David is more stubborn than the Adjustment Bureau give him credit for.

As the film progresses it becomes clear that there are two worlds going on and both are as intriguing as the other. The first world is that of the Adjustment Bureau, an far-reaching organisation that watches the world and ensures that the important people reach their destiny. Any breaches will be rectified at any cost. However, as we get to know these characters, particularly Harry (a scene-stealing Anthony Mackie) who we suspect has become a little too attached to David and might just be on his side, it becomes clear that there is more to them than meets the eye and the people who first seem like leaders are only following orders from the people above them. John Slattery as the snide, arrogant Richardson (not a huge leap from his Mad Men or Desperate Housewives characters) and Terence Stamp as the malicious and reckless Thompson make wonderful villains as we struggle to understand the nature of their place in the world. Are they angels who are so caught up in the tangles of bureaucracy that their wings are forever tarnished by its machinations? Or are they politicians with an agenda that they will fulfil at any cost to the humans on earth? Either way, their world of GPS destiny-tracking machines and huge libraries and doors that magically open to the other side of the city is visually delightful and also intricate enough to capture the imagination.

The other world that the film gives us is the rather more intimate world between David and Elise, two people falling in love. The trick to The Adjustment Bureau and its strongest aspect is that the love story is not only believable, but it is engaging enough to make us really, really care that they are allowed to end up together. It’s all too rare to see falling in love portrayed onscreen with such a dynamic pairing. Not for one second do we doubt that this couple is supposed to be together and it is a credit to the filmmakers and the actors that such fanciful leaps of faith on the part of the audience are possible. Too many films place the entire premise on the assumption that two people belong together but don't make the audience really believe it (Titanic, I'm looking at you!).

When these worlds collide it brings together a mix of wonder, terror and science fiction logic that is brilliantly executed and lovingly rendered by the wonderful cast. Matt Damon in particular must be applauded for his role here. He single-handledly shoulders not only the emotional core of the film but elegantly balances it with the action and sci-fi. Of course, I’ve come to expect nothing less from him, after a long career of skilful genre-jumping but here he shines in a film which could have gone terribly wrong if it weren’t for our love of the character and of course the double jeopardy of that niggling feeling that the Adjustment Bureau could be right. This man is going to be important and might change the world in the future and he shouldn't deviate from his path for the sake of a woman.

The final few minutes might get a little too sappy for some but this cannot overshadow the fun, the mayhem and the high-concept artistry on offer in the film. Stylish, thoughtful and deep, this is my favourite sci-fi film since The Box (hey, it’s a great movie, don’t be so hasty!) and I recommend watching it with an open mind but be prepared for a bit of romance thrown in with the action!

Cropsey

2011-02-21T11:52:00.003Z

Directed by: Joshua Zeman & Barbara Brancaccio

Rating: 9/10

“Cropsey” is an urban legend, popular with kids in America since the 19th Century. He lived in the woods, sometimes he had an axe, sometimes a hook. He kidnapped children and brought them down to the tunnels under the town and killed them. This documentary looks at the disturbing reality behind this particular myth. The filmmakers, Josh and Barbara, two locals, were astonished to realise, as they grew up, that in their town “Cropsey” was real and his name was Andre Rand.

In 1980s Staten Island, New York saw a bout of child kidnappings. Several of these children were mentally disabled and were abducted in broad daylight from their relatively safe suburban neighbourhoods. When seven year-old Jennifer Schweizer, a girl with Down’s Syndrome disappears, the town has had enough and they work tirelessly to find the little girl, hoping to find her alive, but prepared for the worst. A local homeless man Andre Rand was suspected, arrested and charged with the kidnapping. Andre Rand was known to locals as being a vagrant who lived out in the woods near Willowbrook, an old institute for people with learning disabilities. He had a history of sex offences and other crimes which made him a likely suspect. The images of Rand that appeared in the local press were terrifying, wild eyes, gaunt figure and a string of drool from his mouth to his chest easily convinced the world that this man was indeed an evil lunatic.

Shortly after his arrest, Jennifer Schweizer's body was found in a shallow grave in the woods. Rand was convicted of her murder on minimal evidence and sentenced to life in prison, with a chance of parole in 2008. On his release he faced a new trial, for the kidnap and murder of Holly Hughes. The documentary follows this trial and begs the question, was Rand treated fairly or was he merely a convenient scapegoat for the locals?

This is a documentary that works on many levels. On one level, it is a highly entertaining, frightening and fascinating look at a community, like so many others that harbours dark secrets and evil places that seem impossible alongside the wholesome community that occupy the town. On another level it is an intelligent unbiased look at the legal system and the collective need for communities to find a villain and put him away so that they may try to move on from the tragedy, whether justice is being served or not.

A small, but resonant aspect of the documentary is the history of Willowbrook Institution which was the subject of a shocking expose in 1973 by Geraldo Rivera. The conditions in which mentally disabled children were living was beyond comprehension. Naked, filthy, sleeping in their own waste and with only one supervisor for the entire institution, the images in the documentary were shocking and tragic and let to the institution being shut down. Now abandoned, the building was rumoured to have become a refuge for some of its previous inhabitants who weren’t placed in other hospitals.

This place became a legendary “haunted house” where teenagers go to scare each other. Legends and stories became associated with the building and as the documentary investigates the buildings and the tunnels underneath there is chilling evidence found that would suggest that the atrocities of Willowbrook are still going strong.

As Cropsey continues, it faces the audience with challenging questions about our own prejudices against outsiders and "weirdos". It was clear that Rand did not get a very fair trial the first time, and the second trial is even worse. Guilty or innocent, the documentary is not out to exonorate him nor condemn him. However, he has always maintained his innocence and the prosecutors had very little real evidence against him. There are many theories around the town, all of which are considered fairly by the very non-judgmental, intelligent filmmakers.

A thematic companion piece to Stephen Kings novel “It”, this is a story about grief and fear and how people create monsters to wrap up the events as evil and not something any normal person would be capable of. Rand was never seen or treated as a normal person. He was perceived as a monster. Knowing that he was behind bars could detract from the fear and trauma that this community was feeling.

This is a very personal, very mature documentary that will scare you, upset you and hopefully make you think about society’s treatment of people. It is a well-balanced story which weaves many strands together to create a single picture of a town in crisis and the lasting effect it has had on the community. Highly recommended!

- Charlene Lydon

http://www.sproutflix.org/content/willowbrook-last-great-disgrace

http://www.amazon.com/Cropsey/dp/B004FTVTPC

We Love...Gone With the Wind from Film Ireland

2011-02-15T16:03:00.002Z

Gone With the Wind is a film that divides people of our generation. In some ways its enduring fame has worked to its detriment. It is emblematic of the Golden Age of Hollywood and stands up as one of the most successful blockbusters of all time (apparently if inflation is taken into account its still the highest grossing film of all time). However, because it is so widely known and much-parodied everybody feels like they have seen it. But how many people under 30 really have? Or, should I ask, how many people have given it the attention it deserves? We’re all guilty of claiming to have seen a film when in reality it played in the background on the telly while we were engaged in conversation, or doing a bit of cleaning. I think that Gone With the Wind is a film that has suffered a lot from this. Nobody forgets its feisty heroine, its lush visuals or its beautiful score but maybe people are forgetting what a truly beautiful romance is at the heart of it. With its daunting running time and the fact that you probably feel like you’ve already seen it, why give over nearly four hours of your life to this antique? Well, this Valentine’s Day perhaps you should make it your business to spend your afternoon in the company of the fieriest, most frustrating, most engaging cinematic couple of all time.

What is it about Rhett Butler? Gone With the Wind has been around for seventy years and still the very utterance of his name stands for what masculinity should truly be. The enduring popularity of this character says a lot about what women want in a man. Someone who will love them unconditionally but isn’t afraid to call them out when they’re acting like a child; someone who will fawn over their offspring; someone who is outrageously handsome and it helps that he has a stubborn integrity that will not be wavered. Here is a man who stands up for what he believes in, despite ruffling feathers to do so. Rhett Butler, if Carlsberg made romantic heroes…

It is difficult to summarise Gone With the Wind, and in summary it lacks much of the punch that the story holds in actuality. The sense of frustration audiences feel at this couple who obviously love each other but cannot be happy together still resonates today, despite the films ripe old age. There has been a recent resurgence in “doomed couples” films like 500 Days of Summer, Revolutionary Road and Blue Valentine. The appeal of films such as these is the grand tragedy of the fact that these couples just couldn’t make it work, despite loving each other deeply and genuinely. There are few tragedies more simple and relatable than that. Rhett and Scarlett’s relationship was a prime example of this dynamic. They love each other; it’s complicated in many ways but simple at its core. These are two people who understand each other and respect each others’ inherent flaws but whose sense of pride and individuality, not to mention stubbornness leads to their demise.

The breakdown of a marriage is a messy business and here it is displayed in beautiful Technicolour and explored in quite a profound way, disguised by a lush veneer of glamour and artifice. Give it a chance, you might just find yourself feeling profoundly moved.

- Charlene Lydon
(from http://www.filmireland.net/2011/02/15/we-love-st-valentine-gone-with-the-wind/)

Winter's Bone

2011-01-27T13:41:00.001Z

Written by: Debra Granik, Anne Rosselini
Directed by: Debra Granik
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser, Garret Dillahunt

Rating: 8/10

Winter's Bone tells a powerful story of Ree Dolly, a 17 year old girl who lives in the dangerous and hopelessly grim backwoods of Missouri. She is solely responsible for her much younger brother and sister and for taking care of her severely mentally ill mother. The local sheriff, solemnly played by the ever-wonderful Garret Dillahunt, informs her that her absent meth-cooking father has ditched bail and that his collateral was their small farm. If she doesn't find him they will be forced out of their home. What follows is Ree's trek around every grimy, drug infested hole in the county looking for any information she can get on her father.

Her frustration and desperation is palpable as she finds that her father was in so deep with the local drug-making "elite" that nobody will give her any information. She hits dead end after dead end and because everybody is generally unpleasant it is very difficult to tell friend from foe. As it starts to become likely that her father has in fact been murdered and his body "disposed of", Ree's situation looks utterly hopeless and the audiences cringes at this world that has sucked us into accepting a brutal murder of a father as "inconvenient". That is the shock of this story. Life is cheap, life is a chore we must get though until it is over and death is earned.

Winter's Bone is essentially a film noir set in the polar opposite of sultry LA. The structure of the story is almost like a video game where the protagonist goes from level to level unlocking prizes to get them to the next level. Here's the "prizes" are frustratingly small tidbits of information from unreliable sources. As onlookers on her journey, the audience can feel as angry and disgusted as she does. The risible junkies and dealers that she crosses paths with have learned to look out for number one and the harsh, no-nonsense lives they lead have created a world in which "love thy neighbour" is laughably idealistic.

Her one ally (or is he?) is her father's brother Teardrop (deservedly Oscar-nominated John Hawkes)who is a hopeless junkie on his last legs who is reluctant to get involved in anything, but has a soft spot for his niece and her plight. Teardrop is really a wonderful character. He's scary, unpredictable, nasty but in this world, he is Ree's only hope.

As the story rolls towards its conclusion, Ree is faced with performing a most unimaginably grisly task to ensure the safety of her farm. This sequence is horrific to watch, truly heart-wrenching and it cements this characters status as the most badass teen ever committed to film. As good a performance as Ms. Lawrence turned in I found her looks to be distracting. Her angelic face and cherubic lips were far too typical Hollywood for my liking and that might seem like an unfair thing to say given the strength of her acting. But I do have to say that if I were casting the film I would have gone for someone a little more Sissy Spacek, a little less Charlize Theron. Otherwise, the rest of the cast is suitably decrepit and miserable-looking with a unified sense of malaise that it truly disturbing after a while.

This is a wonderful story, well told and the cast is wonderful. The backwoods meth aesthetic is an interesting one and I think it might be a new favourite sub-genre of mine (it's the reason I keep watching Showtime's Justified). However, while watching the film, I couldn't help feeling that it wasn't quite living up to its potential. It had all the elements of an incredible film but it just wasn't quite hitting the right notes for me. There was unfortunately something slightly TV-ish about the tone of the film and I kept thinking that in the hands of the right director (where are you Clint???) this would have been an instant classic. That's not to say this wasn't a remarkable film. It is certainly worth watching and deserving of it's accolades. Be warned, this is grim...I mean early Mike Leigh grim!

OSCAR NOMINATIONS 2011

2011-01-25T17:03:00.003Z

Congratulations to Irish short film The Crush for it's nomination! We're all rooting for you here!!

Black Swan

Best Picture

“Black Swan”

“The Fighter”

“Inception”

“The Kids Are All Right”

“The King's Speech”

“127 Hours”

“The Social Network”

“Toy Story 3”

“True Grit”

“Winter's Bone"

Actor in a Leading Role

Javier Bardem (Biutiful)

Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)

Colin Firth (The King's Speech)

The brilliant John Hawkes is nominated for "Winter's Bone

James Franco (127 Hours)

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale (The Fighter)

John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)

Jeremy Renner (The Town)

Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)

Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)

Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)

Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)

The luminous Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"

Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

Michelle Williams in (Blue Valentine)

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams (The Fighter)

Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)

Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)

Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

Animated Feature Film

“How to Train Your Dragon”

“The Illusionist”

“Toy Story 3”

Art Direction

“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat

“The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr

“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

The now-legendary revolving fight scene in "Inception"

Cinematography

“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique

“Inception” Wally Pfister

“The King's Speech” Danny Cohen

“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth

“True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design

“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood

“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi

“The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan

“The Tempest” Sandy Powell

“True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing

“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky

“The Fighter” David O. Russell

“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper

“The Social Network” David Fincher

“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)

“Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz

“Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic

“Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

“Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger

“Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)

“Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined

Danny Boyle's daring true story racked up an unexpected 6 nominations

“Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined

“Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon

“Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger

“The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum

“The Fighter” Pamela Martin

“The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar

“127 Hours” Jon Harris

“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

"Dogtooth" - an edgy choice for Best Foreign Language film

Foreign Language Film

“Biutiful”

Mexico

“Dogtooth” Greece

“In a Better World” Denmark

“Incendies” Canada

“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

“Barney's Version” Adrien Morot

“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng

“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)

“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell

“Inception” Hans Zimmer

“The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat

“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman

“The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)

“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey

“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater

“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong

“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Short Film (Animated)

“Day & Night” Teddy Newton

“The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang

“Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe

“The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Irish short film "The Crush" by Michael Creagh

Short Film (Live Action)

“The Confession” Tanel Toom

“The Crush” Michael Creagh

“God of Love” Luke Matheny

“Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt

“Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing

“Inception” Richard King

“Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers

“Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague

“True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey

“Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing

“Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick

“The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley

“Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin

“The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten

“True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

“Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi

“Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell

“Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

“Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

A shoo-in for Best Adapted Screenplay.

“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy

“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich

“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)

“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh

“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan

“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

Black Swan

2011-01-21T12:35:00.004Z

Written by: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassel.

Rating: 10/10

Darren Aronofsky’s powerful new horror/thriller/melodrama is truly in a class of its own and proves yet again that he is one of the world’s most reliably imaginative, fearless and powerful film directors. After the admittedly underwhelming The Fountain, Aronofsky followed up with the stripped bare, no punches pulled The Wrestler which was a feat of restraint and nuance which triumphed as a touching tale of the lengths that performers will go to not to leave the prime of their career behind. In The Wrestler, Aronofsky deals with an ageing wrestler who refuses to give up despite his train-wreck of a body begging him to give it a break. In Black Swan he tackles a ballerina in the prime of her life, just reaching the pinnacle of her much-sought “perfection” which is taking its toll not only on her body but on her mental health also.

Nina is a ballerina, the daughter of an obsessed former ballerina, and she has worked her whole life to be “the best”. She is the perfect daughter, beautiful, polite, subservient and modest. She works hard and is insecure about her social skills but tries to get along with people as best she can. She dreams (literally) about playing The Swan Queen in Swan Lake, every ballerina’s dream no doubt and as it happens her ballet company’s former star, Beth (Ryder) retires and leaves a space for a new star to emerge. Thomas (Cassel), the leering genius choreographer, believes she is a perfect White Swan but doesn’t believe that she has the depth, darkness or sensuality to play the Black Swan, an evil seductress. Deep down she knows he’s right and what follows is Nina’s desperate foray into the dark side of her soul, one which has been so neglected that it has become dangerously repressed.

If David Cronenberg did women’s pictures he might just have given us Black Swan. Almost everything about this is classic David Cronenberg; the duality that becomes more and more trippy; the focus on the body as a fallible and often grotesque instrument of obsession; the endeavour for progress that ultimately brings about the downfall of the hero. This territory has been tread by Cronenberg in such films as The Fly, Videodrome and Dead Ringers. However, with Cronenbergs other notable penchant being masculinity, there’s no room for him in this film. Black Swan is in every way a film about being a woman; in the most volatile, dark, hideous form of femininity. Almost everything about the protagonist, Nina encapsulates the absolute worst aspects of womanhood. The insecurities, the pressure to control one’s own body, the thin line between Madonna and whore, the ugliness that comes with the pursuit of perfection. I’m not accusing this film of misogyny, but the grotesque darkness underpinning Nina’s journey is certainly an inherently female one.

As ugly as it is beautiful, Darren Aronofsky has sculpted a story here that is so profoundly horrific that it amazed me that it hasn’t been told before. The less said about the plot, the better as the “plot” is fairly thin. There’s not much by way of story, it is more a beautiful exercise in atmosphere and a dark fairytale about obsession and repression. Natalie Portman puts on the performance of a lifetime here and earns the Oscar nomination (and probably win) she will inevitably receive. She is in turns transcendently beautiful, frighteningly ugly, off-puttingly child-like and darkly sexy, depending on the scene. Her body is put through the mill to impossible lengths and she is so skinny she starts to look skeletal in parts. This is a flawless performance and it can’t be overstated how important the central performance is for this film to work. Kudos must also go to the supporting cast who plays their small roles with gusto. Vincent Cassel is a wonderfully believable menace and Winona Ryder’s fading star is wicked and soulful and Mila Kunis is a giddy, sexual delight in a role in which charisma is so important. Barbara Hershey is truly upsetting as Nina’s nightmarish stage mother. It is easy to feel the intense mix of love and fear in their household and the genuine tenderness mixed with regimental bullying.

This is a perfect production on every level. The music, Clint Mansell's aural raping of Tchaikovsky is deeply unsettling, ugly enough to complement the film's darkness and beautiful enough to evoke real emotion in the audience. The visuals are simply stunning and the energy with which the film is shot ensures that you will spend most of the film beside yourself in the grip of terror and just general unease.

Black Swan is a stunner of a film. Frightening, tender and eloquent; it is a visual poem of epic proportions about one girl’s meltdown told from a stunningly intimate viewpoint. A story told from the inside out, and one which manages successfully to keep you on board in the most devastating fashion until long after the credits rolled.

- Charlene Lydon

We Love...The Town from Film Ireland

2011-01-20T11:00:00.001Z

Ben Affleck’s second film as a director The Town allayed the doubts of any sceptics. Gone Baby Gone (2007) was an ambitious, impressive debut which pulled some brilliant performances from its cast and told a complex story deftly. This time Affleck upped the ante by not only directing The Town but also starring in the film. The Town is a pleasant surprise as it is not only a perfect showcase for Affleck’s powerful filmmaking skills but the role proves he is much more than chiselled features and a cheeky grin. Due to some poor choices in the past, Ben Affleck is rarely given much credit for his acting skills but here he provides a mix of likeability and classic Hollywood charisma. He has proven withThe Townthat he is certainly next in line to Eastwood’s throne as the King of the Actor/Directors, not that Eastwood shows any signs of hanging up his crown just yet.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, The Town is a classic heist setup. Doug (Affleck) is a nice guy born on the wrong side of the tracks into an area of Boston where bank robbers seem to be bred from generation to generation. He is convinced to do one last job but things get complicated when they take Claire, a smart, sexy bank manager (Rebecca Hall) as a hostage. Doug is sent to seduce her in the hope that he might find out what she is telling the FBI but he soon becomes enamoured of her, jeopardising the relationships between the gang.

This is a pretty generic story but what makes this film special is that it does not revel in the lifestyle of these people. The world that is built in the film is not the cocaine-fuelled high-life of gangsters á la Goodfellas;these are blue collar, working-class men who were raised in this lifestyle and rob banks like expert scamps, giddy on the adrenaline and unaffected by the presence of the law. ‘The Law’ in this case is represented by FBI agents Frawley (Jon Hamm), a prejudiced and jaded bureaucrat and Ciampa (Titus Welliver), a former resident of Charlestown, now sympathetic turncoat. The complex dynamic of cop and robber is brilliantly evolved due to the delicate balance of where our sympathies lie.

As the story progresses and the relationship between Doug and Claire deepens the tension mounts as Doug becomes more and more tangled in the web of family and neighbourhood ties he is stuck in.

There are three major action sequences in the films, the first being Claire’s bank which is thrilling, and frightening in its brutality (undoubtedly influenced by Nolan’s opening scene inThe Dark Knight). The second action sequence is a post-robbery car chase through Boston’s winding, hilly, North End. I’m not usual one for car chases but I cherished this one as a one-of-a-kind action sequence that got every element perfect for cinematic thrills. The blue-collar nature of The Town ensures a creeping sense that life is cheap and happy endings are not guaranteed, giving this film an added layer of turmoil.

The final action set piece is a brazen robbery of Fenway Park. A brilliant sequence, the story of this one robbery in all its intricacy is like a film all to itself. It also leads to the film’s final showdown and thrilling climax which is so packed with energy and cinematic tension that it became clear that this is the year’s best thriller by a mile (take that, Lisabeth Salander!).

In a film that plays with notions of heroes and villains, kudos must go to the recently deceased Pete Postlethwaite for his slimy portrayal of the only clear evil bastard of the film, Fergie the florist; a wonderfully memorable monster whose villainous ways are delightfully menacing and gut-wrenchingly hateful. Never has rose-stem snipping been more terrifying. A fitting end to a great career!

I’ve never found myself a lover of gangster films or heist films. In fact, I usually find it difficult to connect with them at all. The Town is, for some reason or another, a welcome exception. Perhaps it was the fact that I could buy into the lifestyle as a bread-and-butter means to an end rather than a hedonistic pursuit of money and cocaine or perhaps it’s the community of characters that is so deftly woven together or maybe it’s just the sum of all its parts; acting, writing, directing, pacing adding up to a superior cinematic experience. In a year full of extremes of good and bad films, The Town proudly stands with the best of them as an example of how classy a genre film can be with the right talent involved.

- Charlene Lydon

from: http://www.filmireland.net/2011/01/14/we-love-2010-the-town/

Film Ireland Article: GET INTO FILM

2011-01-14T14:56:00.000Z

From the Summer issue of Film Ireland, this article investigates the merits of studying film and embarking upon a career in the notoriously difficult industry.

So you’ve decided your future lies in film. But where to begin? Film Ireland’s Charlene Lydon advises on how to choose the course that’s right for you and talks to some up-and-coming Irish talent about where they went to college and what they learned there…

There are many schools of thought on the pros and cons of studying film. Some of the greatest filmmakers of our time, such as David Fincher, Peter Jackson and Steven Soderbergh never went to film school. Many are of the opinion that you can’t teach art – you either have it or you don’t. Modern technology has become so compact and so cheap that the ‘learn by doing’ philosophy is more feasible than ever before. Anybody can pick up a camera and shoot some footage, anyone can use a simple editing programme on their laptop and anybody can upload a video to YouTube.

In the past, many people went to film school simply because there was no other way to access equipment. With that no longer being the case, what are the benefits of going to film school? If nothing else, an education in film will help you decide where your strengths lie. Without actually trying it, it can be hard to know if you’re actually suited to directing. Or what about producing? Or screenwriting? You get to try out a variety of roles, gaining insight into how a crew fits together, the importance of each crew member’s role and, most importantly, the job that best suits your skills.

And apart from finding out which way you incline, if you’re interested in certain filmmaking skills like editing or cinematography you can absolutely reap benefits from formal training. You might be full of interesting ideas but without the knowledge of your tools, there are no guarantees you’ll ever reach your full potential. Training in a college gives you the chance to get familiar with the industry’s rapidly changing technologies.

A wise lecturer once said that you can learn as much from watching a bad film as you can from watching a good one. Studying film is all about watching films, giving you the skills to learn more every time you go to the cinema. There is an old myth that the study of film will impede your ability to enjoy films. Not true. It improves your ability to enjoy films by adding depth to the experience. The language of film is deeply embedded in all of us whether we know it or not, but an understanding of this language, how it works, and why it exists is fundamental to your filmmaking.

And now, the other benefit of studying film in a structured way. One of the secrets to succeeding in film is getting to know people. Word of mouth is an essential part of getting jobs in film and building a reputation is hugely important. Film courses are a great place to meet the future filmmakers of Ireland and start a New Wave together. Students often find themselves forming production companies together after college or working on each other’s films. It’s always good to have a pool of talented, dependable crewmembers for future projects and college is a very, very handy way to do this.

How to Choose the Right Course for You

There is a vast array of courses on offer in Ireland, both technical and academic. Technical courses are best suited to those interested in working as crew or in directing their own films. The focus is on practical work and while there will usually be some written work, a large part of your mark will be for project work. The academic study of film will suit you if you’re interested in becoming a film lecturer, a cinema programmer or a film critic. These courses focus on the history and theory of cinema. If you enjoy watching and discussing films, but are not so keen on making them, then this is the direction you should take.

Some courses contain elements of both technical and academic studies. These combination courses are quite broad and will allow you find the areas that suit you. If you know you love film but you’re not sure what you want to focus on then this is the option for you.

Film education comes in all shapes and sizes. Most degree courses are available as either full-time or part-time and postgraduate courses are often research-based, meaning you are not required to attend many lectures. If time is of the essence, evening courses are offered in various aspects of film. Many organisations also offer weekend or day-long workshops that are designed to cover just a specific area of filmmaking.

Filmbase is one place to find this kind of film training. The film and video training courses are for new and emerging filmmakers as well as practising film professionals. Course lengths vary from one-day to five-day, weekend courses and evening courses ranging from 6 to 10 weeks. This means they’re open to those in full-time work who want to explore a particular area or to film professionals who want to update their qualifications without having to take too much time off. It’s also an opportunity to find out where your strengths lie before you commit to a degree or a diploma or before embarking on a career in filmmaking. Filmbase is an Apple Authorized Training Centre, and all tutors who teach Filmbase courses are film professionals themselves, which brings an authenticity and practicality to the courses. For a full list of the training available at Filmbase, visit www.filmbase.ie/training.

If you want to try film but are afraid of taking the plunge with college fees, why not check with your local VEC. They offer a range of lower cost certificate and diploma courses around the country that can lead to further education and will, at the very least, provide you with a substantial portfolio of work.

So, whether you on the post-Leaving Cert precipice, you feel like a career change, or you just fancy a new hobby, there is something there for you.

Ballyfermot College Of Further Education
Nicky Phelan – director, Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (short animation, 2008).

What was the most important thing you learned during your time studying film?
I studied animation in Ballyfermot, where we did a lot of life-drawing and sketching out on location. It taught me the importance of observation – seeing what gives an expression or gesture its meaning, what elements of someone’s physicality tell you about their personality in terms of movement and presentation. All the details that go into making a set feel real and relevant to the world you are trying to create – observation and attention to detail, I suppose, two important lessons.

What was your first project and how did it go?
The first film as such I made in college was a group project, made on paper with pastel illustrations. We were happy with how it turned out, but I haven’t seen it in a long time!

What have you learned that college couldn’t teach you?
Lots of things. Experience is the best place to learn. I think something that comes with time is realising that to make something feel really emotional, it helps to bring your own personal experience to it. It’s sort of intuitive anyway, but it is an important question to ask yourself in terms of relating to your characters and world. You have to look at your story, characters and the world you are creating, and bring your own memories or experiences to them in some way. It all translates to an audience. I also did an amazing course through Screen Training Ireland with Bruce Block on visual storytelling, which was incredibly helpful and is something that I still refer to.

If you could tell students one thing, what would it be?
That while it’s a tough industry to get into, if it’s what you want to do, keep at it. Make films on your computer at home, do whatever, and keep at it. The more you put into the work, the more you’ll get out of it. If it starts to feel too much like hard work, you should probably do something else.

What would you change about film education in Ireland?
It might have changed by now, but in Ballyfermot I think we could have benefitted from a mentoring system – some way in which those working in the industry mentor students. I think having access to people with the technical know-how and experience would help the students improve production values and increase their chances of reaching wider audiences.

Do you think academic film study can inform technical ability?
Yes, to a certain degree, but there’s nothing like experience to inform technical ability.

Dublin City University
Eimear O’Kane – producer, Satellites & Meteorites (feature, 2008), Corduroy (short, 2009).

What was the most important thing you learned during your time studying film?
I think the most useful thing I learned during my time studying was essay writing and the work I put into researching and writing my thesis. Learning to put forward a convincing and well-written argument has served me well in writing applications, synopses, etc.

What do you wish they had never told you?
That there weren’t many jobs out there – I found it to be untrue. You just need to be patient and keep working at it.

What was your first project and how did it go?
My first job was accounts trainee on Lassie. It was terrifying, as I had no experience in accounts and the dogs kept dribbling on my petty cash forms.

What have you learned that college couldn’t teach you?
Just the little things that you learn over time from working on set on a daily basis. It took me a long time to figure out what everyone’s job title really meant and how everyone fit together to form a cohesive and efficient crew.

If you could tell students one thing, what would it be?
There are jobs there if you are committed and willing to work hard. You may need to work for free for a time but if you are good at what you do you will eventually get noticed and start getting offered paid work.

What would you change about film education in Ireland?
I would include more work experience both on set and in production offices.

Do you think academic film study can inform technical ability?
Yes, I think it’s great to have the time to explore why things are done and to discuss what options are available. By watching and analysing films from directors/producers/designers/DOPs, etc., you can understand how a look or style is achieved and learn how to replicate and improve on it.

John Huston Film School, Galway
Will Collins – writer, My Brothers (feature, 2010)

What was the most important thing you learned during your time studying film?
A thick skin. In the Huston the feedback process was always present. It was strange at first, especially for me since I had rarely ever shown my work to anyone. As a working writer, you have to get used to the notes process and the sooner you get used to it, the sooner the feedback will be constructive to your work.

What do you wish they had never told you?
How difficult it is to actually get anything produced. The odds are always stacked against the writer. However, they always told us a good script will always shine through.

What was your first project and how did it go?
For the Masters in Screenwriting we had to write a feature-length screenplay as our thesis. From the first week we had to start working on the ideas and I set about writing this Irish gothic black comedy set around the moving-statue craze in the eighties. It was a mad script with too many characters and I now describe it as a plot monster. While writing this script I knew I wanted to write something really simple and character-driven, something that was from the gut and felt ‘real.’ That was when My Brothers was born.

What have you learned that college couldn’t teach you?
You have to find your own voice. You can know everything about the three-act structure and film analysis but at the end of the day it’s only your voice as a writer that will make a script come alive. You have to go into yourself and find stories there and not try to stick successful film ‘A’ with successful film ‘B’ and hope a story forms. I’m sure they told us this in the Huston but I had to figure it out for myself.

If you could tell students one thing, what would it be?
Write one page every day. Just you, a pen and a piece of paper. Write something completely for yourself. This exercise has saved me on so many occasions. I might be stuck figuring out a plot or writing a scene but every morning I start with the ‘One Page’ idea. I force myself to create something new on that page, it’s usually rubbish but I always walk away feeling better, feeling ‘I made something.’ I don’t feel so bogged down with whatever I’m stuck on. Plus, sometimes these pages become the seeds for future stories.

What would you change about film education in Ireland?
It’s already changed a lot even from when I was in secondary school. Recently, I was giving a talk to a group of transition year students and I was delighted to learn that they were doing a film program where they actually made their own short films. In my day, films were something you wasted your time on at the weekends. I think film education needs to happen in the community as youth projects. I look at Kilkenny where they have a group called The Young Irish Filmmakers. From what I know, this was an after-school group. A number of the kids involved went on to form Cartoon Saloon, who were nominated for an Oscar® this year with the The Secret of Kells. The learning is in the doing.

Do you think academic film study can inform technical ability?
Definitely. At the Huston I was exposed to so many different pockets of film movements that it blew my mind. It was liberating. Through analysis you obtain a clearer understanding of how and why great films are great. Also, learning basic screenwriting tools is vital – like the three-act structure – and will save hopeful writers weeks or months of trying to figure out how to write a script for themselves (which I’ve done in the past). But then, as a writer, you have to let that analytical side go and allow yourself to be creative and instinctive. It’s a bit of a balancing act – it isn’t easy.

National Film School, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology
Narayan Van Maele – director/DOP, Aunt (short film, 2009).

What was the most important thing you learned during your time studying film?
As I was pretty new to the film world I found it great to be given the time to find out what you’re most interested in and where your strengths lie. During the first two years you’d do sound on one project, and then produce, direct, edit or do camera on others. Maybe the most important thing for me was being able to shoot on 16 mm. Being in film school allows you to experiment, make mistakes and to develop your own style without the pressure that you have in the ‘real world’, as lecturers used to call working in the industry.

What was your last project and how did it go?
With my film Aunt, I wanted to limit myself to the power of images and rely as little as possible on dialogue to convey the story. Aunt is set in the 1970s in the West of Ireland. It is about a family that hides the fact that their youngest daughter had a baby out of wedlock by giving the baby to the older sister who is already married and has a child.

My producer David Lester Mooney and I are both pleased with the film and are developing a follow-up project together.

What have you learned that college couldn’t teach you?
There’s a lot that film school can’t teach you. College is a playground where you meet people who have the same interests as you do. It’s up to you how much you put into it and how many working relationships you build up.

If you could tell students one thing what would it be?
If you haven’t already, take up photography. It’s surprising how few film students take photographs. For me film and photography are very similar. Not only do you get a feel for composition and the technicalities of exposing a proper image, but it also makes you a better storyteller.

What would you change about film education in Ireland.
I’d introduce intense workshops with industry professionals, not just with directors but also lighting/camera, sound and editing workshops. I’d also give the students more opportunities to work with a wider range of equipment that is used in the industry, such as 35 mm cameras, bigger lighting units, etc. Most importantly, I’d get all the different departments (set design, make-up, animation, etc.) to work together on projects. The importance of set design is something that we had to realise ourselves.

Do you think academic film study can inform technical ability?
People work in different ways. I’ve always been more comfortable with the practical approach. Reading books on photography and technical books on cinematography certainly helped me a lot, but ultimately I am the kind of person who learns by doing and trying things. Sometimes you fail, but what’s most important is the ‘doing’ bit.

Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT)
Denise Fogarty – second assistant director, Agoraphobia (short, 2008).

What was the most important thing you learned during your time studying film?
I think the most important thing I learned was how important it is to organise and plan ahead, no matter how big or small your production. If you organise everything that you can during pre-production, then your production will run so much smoother.

What do you wish they had never told you?
That you’re only as good as your last job… It haunts me!!!

What was your first project and how did it go?
God, I can’t remember my first college project. I think it was shooting a one-minute linear piece on the theme of freedom. There were four of us in the group and I remember that we had to keep going from location to location as we were shooting linearly and couldn’t edit the footage. I suppose it was a good exercise, though, as it taught us about shooting ratio and not to do the same shot over and over when there was no need.

What have you learned that college couldn’t teach you?
I don’t think it is really a case of what college couldn’t teach me but you definitely can’t beat real experience – meeting new colleagues and seeing firsthand the different ways people work and how everyone’s roles combine in a successful production.

If you could tell students one thing, what would it be?
To get as much work experience as you can while you are at college and to make use of the equipment and facilities. Make projects on the side that you can add to your showreel.

What would you change about film education in Ireland?
I think I would have courses with more practical, hands-on elements. During the 4th year of the course I did in DkIT there was a six-week work experience placement. I found it extremely beneficial, so I would definitely suggest more work placements. They’re a great opportunity for students to get an insight into the industry and also to make themselves known to possible future employers.

Do you think academic film study can inform technical ability?
Yes, I think that academic study gives you the basis that you need to understand the technical side of film. During the BA in video and film course in DkIT we had a mixed learning experience with academic and practical study and this actually gave me a better understanding when I began working in a technical area.

Dublin Institute of Technology
Matthew Kirrane – camera assistant, ‘The Clinic’ (TV series, 2009), DOP, Arriving at Departures (short, 2010).

What was the most important thing you learned during your time studying film?
To be always willing to learn and to always keep your mind open to new ways of thinking and doing things. Even after picking up the paperwork that proved I could do that, it’s a way of thinking that’s as important to me today as it was then.

What was your first project and how did it go?
The first professional project I worked on was a satirical four-part series called ‘The State of Us’ shot for RTÉ back in April 2007. I joined the crew as camera trainee and was delighted because I had always focused my attention on shooting the college productions. I spent my time during this project learning how to fulfil my position in a way that could help those around me as opposed to getting in the way and being a hindrance. I also made sure I didn’t drop the camera.

What have you learned that college couldn’t teach you?
How to make a great coffee.

If you could tell students one thing, what would it be?
All that stands between the student and the top of the ladder is the ladder.

What would you change about film education in Ireland?
I think film courses need to forge stronger relationships with working professional productions and crew members throughout the country. It would help if there were direct points of contact with the industry as well as a competent level of work experience in various professional environments. With the emergence of so many easily accessible formats for displaying work and the development of affordably priced ‘high-end’ technology, I think there is a real opportunity to develop these links.

Do you think academic film study can inform technical ability?
Definitely. I always feel there are two streams of thought processes that steer decision-making in filmmaking. First off, you need to have a high level of technical ability. Since graduating, my education in the technical aspects of camera and lighting continues on a daily basis. However, what turns this knowledge into a powerful story-making tool is your academic background in film studies. It’s as vital to your thinking as the technical knowledge and helps steer the production of a story down new avenues.

University Of Ulster
Jolene Mairs – craft service: second unit, A Shine of Rainbows (feature, 2009), studying for a PhD by practice.

What was the most important thing you learned during your time studying film?
There are no rules about filmmaking, only what works for your story.

What was your first project and how did it go?
My first project was a five-minute documentary about a toilet attendant in my town centre. I was terrified at the prospect of completing a project on my own, but it went better than expected and I managed to produce a decent little film that wasn’t too bad for a first effort.

What have you learned that college couldn’t teach you?
I’m technically still in college! I’m now working on a PhD by Practice so I have not yet had the opportunity to learn outside of a college environment.

If you could tell students one thing, what would it be?
The best way to learn about filmmaking is to make a film.

Do you think academic film study can inform technical ability?
Definitely. Studying and thinking critically about films is a great way to get to know what kind of films you want to make.

Click here for the complete guide to Film Courses with links directly to the the college websites and the courses provided.

Get Into Film: Listings of Film Courses | Film Ireland Online

2011-01-13T15:26:00.001Z

Check out my very long list of full-time, third level film courses available across Ireland. There are no jobs in any industry these days, so maybe now's the time to partake in the notoriously inpenetrable film industry!

At least have a read of the list and pass it on to anyone who you think might be interested.

Get Into Film: Listings of Film Courses | Film Ireland Online

My Favourite Films of 2010

2011-01-06T22:15:00.004Z

So, it's that time of year again folks. This year I had some serious trouble narrowing it down and there are some films that regrettably didn't make the cut. Great films such as Winter's Bone, Humpday, Life During Wartime, Dogtooth, Buried, Prodigal Sons, Enter the Void, The Last Station and a fair few more had to fall by the wayside. It was difficult because I really think this was a strong year for film. Here are my picks for the best films of 2010. Due to a large amount of superb horror films, I am going to have to do a separate top 10 of the genre's best which will follow very soon. Comments welcome as always!

10. The Road
A difficult adaptation, Cormac McCarthy's bleak novel does not lend itself easily to the silver screen. However, John Hillcoat's eye for the beauty in brutality teams up with Viggo Mortensen's intense fearlessness to bring us a perfect adaptation and an unforgettable journey of a man and his son through the barren wasteland of post-apocalyptic America. It's easy to call it a miserable story but don't ever forget that this is a film that triumph's the human spirit and love over adversity more heartily than the shiniest Disney fairytale.

9. Good Hair
Chris Rock brings us this years most unlikely likeable documentary. Amid doom and gloom and prophetic social collapse documentaries this one, about the relationship between black women and their hair, is certainly my favourite of the year. The less you know going in the better as I was horrified to see that the trailer gives away all the good stuff. Good Hair is hilarious, sometimes insightful, at times political, and always engaging and it achieved the greatest of cinematic accomplishments; it made me care about something I have never had the slightest interest in!

8.Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

It may have been too hip for the high-brow and too hip for the low-brow but for those of us who are somewhere in the middle, we revelled in the joy and wit of Scott Pilgrim. The colourful palette, the razor-sharp dialogue and it's bold, adventurous style ensured that it gave the audience something they had truly never seen before. I'm no gamer but the charming 8-bit Universal logo had me tittering from the get-go and the film definitely starts as it means to go on. Unashamedly nerdy, but genuine enough to avoid being too hipster-ish, Scott Pilgrim Vs the World is as fresh and colourful a film as one could hope for!

7. I Love You Philip Morris
A heartfelt, true-story, prison-set, gay romance, courtoom drama, Jim-Carrey movie co-starring heartthrob Ewan McGregor as his fragile, effeminate love interest. No wonder they had trouble distributing this! Throw in the fact that this film has such a ludicrous plot that nobody in their right mind could go along with how far-fetched it is...until you learn that all of these events are true. This is a very special film. Perhaps the first film to treat a gay relationship as a normal one, warts n all. It is high farce most of the time but at it's heart is a mentally ill man and his love for a fellow prisoner. It helps that it is hilarious and boasts Jim Carrey's best performance since The Truman Show.

6. Whip It!

Director Drew Barrymore throws every ounce of spunk she has (and that's a LOT) at this teen roller-derby movie starring Ellen Page. For those of us who, as teenagers, liked their music dirty, their clothes dark and their boys musically-inclines, this film is a delight! Maybe roller-derby isn't everybody's cup of tea and to be honest I didn't think it would be mine, but the racing sequences are energetic and brutal enough to ensure that you can understand the passion the sport evokes in these girls!

5. The Town

A gang of bank robbers are thrown into turmoil when one of it's members falls for a hostage. Not the most original premise but this is, in my opinion, the year's strongest thriller. From director Ben Affleck, this is as cinematic as thrillers get with a strong, working-class heart beating behind it. The fast-paced action sequences are riveting and the intimate scenes of love and friendship are intense and often profound.

4. Inception

I've never shared the love for Christopher Nolan that the rest of the world seems to have. He is undoubtedly a powerful filmmaker and has shown real skill behind the camera. But something about his films has always left me a little cold. Inception was the first time I really got on board the Nolan train. A perfect adventure in science fiction. Brain-melting but only in the most logical way, the script is so air-tight there is no doubt as to the character's journey, however intricate. Many people seem to get a bit flummoxed by the very open-ended final shot but for me it was an exercise in perfect script-writing.

3. Toy Story 3

The film may be aimed at children and the protagonists may be a bunch of CGI toys having an adventure but the themes here are universal. The enduring power of friendships, the tragedy of growing up and the strength that lies in caring about others are things we can all relate to. And let's not forget that it's a brilliant comedy and a nail-biting adventure. A class-act the whole way through, there's a perfect balance of story, character and entertainment in Toy Story 3. Instant classic.

2. Shutter Island

Martin Scorsese's foray into psychological thriller doesn't sit well with everybody because of the muddy psycho-babble and the old-fashioned, naive science at it's core. To me, the ignorance, the pompousness and the over-stylisation were all part of Scorsese's nod to the institutional gothic thrillers of the 1940's and 50's. Shutter Island is thick with atmosphere, and soaked in conspiratorial high-camp thrills.

1. The Social Network

As much as I kinda wanted to give Shutter Island the top spot (cos I know no-one else will) I can't deny it to The Social Network. This film, written to perfection By Aaron Sorkin and directed with characteristic flair by David Fincher, is far more entertaining and profound than it has any business being. No amount of hype can destroy how well this film was received. With nary a bad performance nor a dull moment to be found, The Social Network is by far the best film of the year and one which will undoubtedly be studied for years to come by film students...an example of how to write a perfect screenplay and how to achieve the perfect balance of subtlety and style.

DIY Distribution

2010-12-16T17:48:00.002Z

From www.iftn.ie

Industry Focus: Irish Distribution... Doing it Alone

The struggles of the independent filmmaker are endless and varied. The discipline required to write a script; the patience required to pull together a cast and crew; the earnestness required to raise funding and see a film through all the way to post-production ensures that making a film is guaranteed months or years of stress and challenges. But now that the masterpiece is complete, what next? In many ways the battle is just beginning. The quality of work is of little consequence if nobody watches it.

Catching the eye of professional distribution companies can be difficult and first-time filmmakers are often wary of being caught up in bad deals which will prevent them from ever making money from their film. With internet technology providing so many new, free platforms for films, self-distribution is becoming an increasingly popular option for filmmakers.

But how good a deal is self-distribution? It might be a more inviting option but without the resources available to professional distribution companies, can it be more of a curse than a gift?

Patrick O’Neill of the Irish Film Board has been observing the trend of filmmakers experimenting with various forms of distribution and has noted the positive and the negative aspects of each. He believes that one of the most appealing aspects of self-distribution is the flexibility it affords a producer and the fact that the filmmakers themselves are in charge of the film’s destiny since they know the limits of their own funding. He also believes that an enticing aspect is the fact that you can be creative about how you wish to market the film. The aesthetic of the campaign and the means used to raise awareness is at the discretion of the producer.

Some of the negative points of self-distribution are that producers may have a lack of expertise in the area of marketing and publicity. A professional distribution company will bring a fresh perspective, years of expert experience and most importantly, exhibitor relationships. A distribution company will have the key contacts in the area of DVD rental/retail and will have good relationships with cinemas.

Another key danger, as Patrick points out, is that “a producer can often have too biased an opinion of their own film and think it is actually better than it is, therefore inflating expectations which results in higher expenditure incurred in the distribution that is not recouped – a distributor can provide a balanced opinion and provide realistic expectations.” Thinking realistically about your films appeal is key to successfully marketing it. The more you can zone in on your demographic, the more focused your campaign can be.

Patrick advises that “when self-distributing you first need to look at your film and see what “hooks” there are that can be effective in your marketing campaign, i.e. is there an obvious theme, a cast member with a public profile, etc.? From here free marketing tools such as Facebook and Twitter can be exploited, directing your output at specific groups.

A recent example of a self-distributed film is Risteard O’Domhnaill’s The Pipe, a documentary about the Shell to Sea campaign in Corrib which is being self-distributed by Scannáin Inbhear. Rachel Lysaght, producer of The Pipe has found that taking on the distribution themselves has proved to be highly successful. Though it is too early to know if the film will be a financial success, Rachel has found that the film’s socially relevant subject matter has allowed them to use social media to create a bona fide community around the film.
At the moment the film is being screened in a number of cinemas all around Ireland and they are also utilizing Access Cinema and Cinemobile. The screenings, often accompanied by Q&A’s, have been enormously successful. The company has maintained the film rights for the U.K. and Ireland but has sales agents abroad after a successful run in the film festival circuit culminating in a standing ovation at their screening in the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
The only drawback that Rachel found was that staying on top of social media and community-building can be extremely time-consuming. It is a full time job engaging with the various platforms The Pipe has been using to promote itself.

A word of advice from Rachel is that filmmakers should be aware of who their potential demographic is from the first day. They should know in the pre-production stage and consider the demographic all the way through the production and to the marketing phase. Knowing your audience is the key factor in strategically advertising your film. TG4 will screen The Pipe in Febuary 2011 and a DVD release is tentatively scheduled for Spring 2011.

Another recent Irish documentary, Pyjama Girls has been successfully self-distributed by Still Films. Pyjama Girls examines the phenomenon of inner city Dublin teenage girls who wear brightly coloured pyjamas on a day-to-day basis. This observant and sensitive documentary was certainly suited to engaging with an online community because of its subject matter. The film’s director Maya Derrington believes that documentaries might be more suited to self-distribution “because it's easier to track networks and target groups who have direct interest in the subject matter. You can direct market to those groups either online, virally or physically by phone or in person.” She also thinks that films can potentially get a much better financial deal by distributing theatrically without the aid of a separate company. “The venues take 65% and distributors would on average get about 35%, of which they retain 65%. So in the traditional set-up, the filmmaker comes away with 35% of 65%.” Bearing in mind how difficult and rare it is for an independent Irish film to make a profit from their film, every little helps and the money the company decides to budget for distribution will most likely be much smaller than the cost of outsourcing. Because Pyjamas Girls has already broken even (with the aid of some funding from the IFB), Maya wouldn’t hesitate to self-distribute on their next project, though she would give the marketing campaign more time if she were to do it again.

The introduction to Ireland of digital cinema has made the physical distribution of films much cheaper and easier. Films no longer require huge reels. A small hard drive, simply packaged is all that needs to be delivered to the cinema now. One of the first Irish filmmakers to take advantage of this was Liam O Mocháin whose company Siar a Rachas Muid Productions released his film W.C. theatrically by means of digital hard drive in 2009.W.C. was the first film to be released theatrically in Ireland via digital hard drive. It played at Movies@Dundrum, SGC Dungarvan, and Eye Galway. Liam believes that it is distribution rather than getting the film made that can be the real hurdle for many indie films.

Nonetheless, Liam sees plenty of opportunity for filmmakers who aren’t afraid to think outside of the box; “However much it costs to make or how it’s out there, it’s what is on the screen that counts for the audience…Digital distribution from VOD, streaming, downloads are all part of the new world of distribution. You can now split your film rights giving digital to one company, TV and home video to another and sell the film on your own website.”Being savvy about the possibilities of the digital world has given Liam an edge as an indie filmmaker. Although it is always difficult for a self-funded, indie film to become a financial success (W.C. still hasn’t quite recouped its initial investment) Liam believes the only important thing is that your film gets made and gets seen and the advice he offers to fledgling filmmakers is “Get your film out there, but remember as well as getting the glory you also get the bills!”

Last summer saw the nationwide release of recession-themed comedy drama Situations Vacant, produced by Anne Marie Naughton for Park Films who took another route entirely. The film was distributed by the company itself but she asked Brendan McCaul (formerly of Buena Vista) for his expertise in Marketing and Distribution. Because of his knowledge in the field and his contacts in the industry, Situations Vacant avoided some of the pitfalls of non-professional distribution. The film screened in eighteen cinemas nationwide from a digital hard drive. Anne Marie believes the most important thing about self-distribution is to give attention to detail and not to presume that publicity work is being done; “It is important on a national release to make friends with the cinema managers and projectionists and pop in to check that the posters are being displayed correctly and that your trailer is being run as often as possible.”

Anne Marie hired a PR company to deal with the release and in the end believed that the company, though highly professional didn’t really aim the film in the right direction. One of her regrets is that they film wasn’t directed more towards its young demographic. The film was marketed in a rather non-specific manner and when asked what she would do differently next time she said she would “choose PR to match the film. It is important to understand the movie and its audience and then to create awareness through the target audience”. Another aspect that Anne Marie was lucky to be able to exploit was high-profile cast member Mikey Graham, a singer with Boyzone, who proved to be a major selling point despite only having a small role in the film. Situations Vacant is now finished a theatrical run and Park Films are looking into an Xtra-Vision Exclusive deal for the DVD rights.

Each of the above filmmakers seem to have a common tip for budding distributors; know your audience, find a hook and be aware of what your film is. Some films are better suited to self distribution due to particular social relevance, having a marketable name attached, or subject matter that can easily find a community on the web. Before you decide how you will distribute your film, look at your film, look at your demographic and figure out a strategy. Above all, it seems, you need to be creative in your approach to marketing outside of traditional means.
The world of transmedia is constantly evolving and creative, tech-savvy people are coming up with new, inventive, non-traditional ways of distributing art. With new VOD websites launching all the time it is important for filmmakers to keep an online presence and to make it their business to keep up to date with the changes in the technology.

Filmmakers must also think, from the pre-production stage about who their target audience is and how they can exploit aspects of the film in order to reach out to their potential audience. With technology moving so fast, DVD rentals plummeting and piracy soaring it is difficult to predict where the market is going so the most important thing for anyone embarking on a filmmaking venture is to know the market and the various resources available. Keep abreast of how other filmmakers are getting creative and always try to think outside the box.

By Charlene Lydon

http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&aid=73&rid=4283570&tpl=archnews&only=1

Film Ireland Interview - Sé Merry Doyle on "Dreaming The Quiet Man

2010-12-13T01:07:00.001Z

John Ford's 1952 classic The Quiet Man is often a controversial issue with Irish people. Though we may be proud of Ireland's involvement in the classic Hollywood film, the exaggerated cultural stereotypes it portrays can sometimes offend. The film has become the subject of acclaimed filmmaker Se Merry Doyle's (Jimmy Murakami: Non-Alien, Alive Alive O -A Requiem for Dublin) latest documentary. I sat down with Sé as he put the finishing touches on his new film Dreaming The Quiet Man.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the documentary is the inclusion of an interview with Maureen O'Hara, who has broken her silence about her time working on The Quiet Man for a very candid and, indeed, delightful interview. Now ninety years old, O'Hara often avoids discussing the film as, Sé explains, 'she doesn't like anyone taking on The Quiet Man because she doesn't think they [filmmakers] can get it.' Despite her reported misgivings she talks animatedly, honesty and fondly about her time working on the film, her rather complex relationship with John Ford and her admiration of the The Quiet Man. Se was pleased with how the interview brings the documentary together. 'She just gave the most wonderful interview. You can feel the energy. She has some extraordinary insight into the film.' Her insight into John Ford himself was invaluable to the documentary. Se adds, 'She knew ail the nuances and she knew what a bastard he was. As she would say, he was the greatest son of a bitch, but he was the greatest director as weil, For me, as a director, it was a proud moment. I just thought, somehow, as the last person who could throw light on John Ford as a friend, talking to her would give us something really powerful. If I hadn't had it in the film I would always have been thinking, "oh man, I wonder what Maureen O'Hara would have said."

The genesis of the documentary is a rocky one, as Sé tells me. It started out as sort of an argument against the film's detractors. 'When I hear someone say it's a piece of tosh, I say, "how could you say that? This film was made by John Ford!" He's regarded as one of the greatest filrnmakers in the world ever. How could he make a piece of tosh about the country his parents were born in? And that was really enough to get me going on it.'

Sé attended the anniversary celebration of the The Quiet Man in the IFI with all the Quiet Man 'maniacs' who were also in attendance. After shooting some footage of that event Sé then travelled to Cong in Co Mayo where the film was shot to take a look at the lasting effect the film has had on the town. This trip was made before any funding had been secured, and the team consisted of just himself and a cameraman. 'We iust hung around and I met Nancy and Jack Murphy who own Cohan's hardware store, which, in the film, was Cohan's Bar, and they were just incredibly ordinary but very exciting people. The reason I went to Cong was because everybody involved was very old and I was afraid that they were going to die. It's what you call time-dependent material.'

With this renewed sense of urgency, Se, armed with a pilot made from the footage from Cong and the anniversary screening, began to seek financing but found it more difficult than anticipated. There was no interest from any of the institutions that we went to. They were all so prejudiced against the film... People at RTE felt it was too local, that it was a silly Irish film. They just didn't get it.'

It was with Alan Maher (of the Irish Film Board) that Sé finally got the penny to drop with someone, 'Alan immediately got what the argument was, what my hope was. I wanred to shoot a lot of stuff, do a lot of interviews. It was a chance encounter with him - maybe it's like chat with a lor of films. There 's always somebody who gets it and you hope that it lands, and it landed on him.' With IFB on board, Sé secured further funding from the BAI and TG4. The documentary then began to take shape and a host of John Ford admirers were interested in coming on board to discuss why The Quiet Man is indeed more than just a bit of blarney!

Upon assembling die first strands of the documentary Se realised that the documentary he really wanted to make was not a defence of the film, but rather a film about John Ford and his Obsession' with Maurice Walsh's story. In demonstrating the passion Ford felt for making The Quiet Man, the reputation it has for being a scourge on the Irish international identity could perhaps be waylaid and replaced with the respect that Sé feels it deserves. With the title changed from The Quiet Man: Millstone or Milestone to the less contentious Dreaming The Quiet Man.-the documentary had found its focus, and instead of a debate, it had become a celebration of the film itself and the cinematic master and enigmatic figure, John Ford.

Central to the documentary is the notion that The Quiet Man is really a masked biography of the director himself, who was born in America Co Irish parents who raised him wich songs and stories from their homeland and whose mother idealised Ireland. Sé explains, 'What I'm propagating is that he turns this film into his own biography.' Sé goes on to point out some of the similarities between the central character Sean Thornton (played by John Wayne), and John Ford himself. 'Ford was a very cantankerous man and his/outsider spirit is explored in the film. And Sean's obsession with Maty-Kate - Ford was having an affair with Katherine Hepburn at the time, whose name was Kate and his wife's name was Mary.' Sean Thornton's yearning for Ireland, the idealism surrounding it and the feeling of being an outsider in the place you considered 'home' are all aspects that Ford could relate to and are important in understanding the intentions of the film.

The segment screened for me spoke volumes about the central discussion in the documentary. The segment included a typically colourful and impassioned interview with Martin Scorsese, in which he discusses the scene where Sean Thornton (Wayne) first arrives on the train in Castletown. Sean walks through the train station to find die horse and cart that will bring him to lnnisfree and Scorsese makes the point that Sean is literally walking from the real world to the fantasy/mythological world that is lnnisfree. Sé points out, 'Innisfree is not Ireland. Castletown is, but lnnisfree is an imaginary place that goes back to pre-Ireland, pre-Christian ritual and all that sort of thing. So he's playing with all these rituals. But at the same time, Sean Thornton is an American. Ford knows the central character is an American who has a dewy-eyed vision of Ireland and the Irish people are playing up to the Americans stereotype of us. So he's playing with that.'

One of the more common criticisms of the film by its detractors is that Ford has created a damaging mockery of Irish cultural identity. This point is effectively countered by Se by proposing chat Ford is celebrating the mythological elements of Irish culture and playing with the idealism that is often attached to the 'homeland' of so many Americans, Ford included.

The documentary takes a look at many areas of interest for Quiet Man fans, but is also historically interesting for any cinephile or indeed any Irish person, The effect the Film has had on Cong is remarkable and the archive footage that is included in the documentary from the making of ihe film is an invaluable look at Ireland in the 'sos. Interviews with Cong locals Jack and Nancy Murphy are insightful and endearing, and contrasted with the archive footage, which shows the glamour and excitement in the air at the time of shooting. Ir was unlike anything rural Mayo had seen before and the impression the film made on the local economy is still evident some sixty years later.

Now putting the finishing touches on what he describes as 'the most difficult piece of work I've ever done, the film Sé has created is unlike any other documentary about The Quiet Man. Neither a defence nor a detraction, the documentary attempts to reconcile the cultural hyperbole with the knowingly playful use of stereotype and idealism that Ford perpetrates within the film. Sé concludes, I suppose all I can say about The Quiet Man is that I'm trying to open a door. Obviously anyone who loves the film will enjoy it, but itwill open a whole new perspective on whatthey were saying. There was a genius at work here, and Ford did spend the guts of twenty years getting it to happen'.

Burlesque

2010-12-10T20:06:00.002Z

Directed By: Steve Antin

Cast: Christina Aguilera, Cher, Cam Gigandet, Stanley Tucci

Rating: 5/10

It is rare that a pop singer will rise from the stage to shine on the silver screen. Arguably the most dazzling of these popstars/actresses has been Cher, who lit up the screen in such gems as Witness, Moonstruck and The Witches of Eastwick. She even went on to win an Oscar for her rich performance in Moonstruck. Past pop sirens have tried and failed to replicate Cher’s success; Britney (Crossroads), Mariah Carey (Glitter, Precious), Miley Cyrus (The Last Song) and now it’s Christina Aguilera’s turn. We know she’s got the pipes but does she have the chops for acting?

Burlesque is an easy film to slag. It’s a bit too easy a target and from the guffaws of the audience it’s easy to imagine we have another Glitter on our hands. It isn’t quite a disaster of those proportions and is possibly a future guilty pleasure for a lot of people due to some fun set pieces, truly remarkable costumes and just the general camp aesthetic of it all.

Ali (Xtina) is a small-town waitress with no family, a mean boss and a depressing job. So one day she closes the restaurant, sings on the table-tops, then heads off on a bus to L.A. She is down on her luck, wide-eyed, naive and penniless. That is until she encounters The Burlesque Lounge, a crumbling burlesque theatre with no money but lots of heart. Ali is smitten and is determined to earn her place on their stage. She blags her way into a waitressing job and befriends the kindly barman Jack (Twilight’s Cam Gigandet), whilst both infuriating and charming Cher’s fading star Tess along the way.

Jack is happily engaged to Natalie, played by Glee’s resident naughty catholic schoolgirl, Dianna Agron, but things are rocky, a fact which isn’t helped by Ali sleeping on their couch while Natalie is away. It isn’t long before Jack and Ali’s friendship deepens but you’d be surprised how long the writers tease the audience before giving them some of the most bizarre foreplay ever committed to celluloid.

Needless to say, Ali is soon revealed to be the club’s greatest asset and might just save the joint before the bank forces them to sell to slimy investor, and Ali’s potential love interest, Marcus (Eric Dane). But can she come out of her shell enough to get the crowds in? Can she defeat resident bitch, Kristen Bell? And can she realise before it’s too late that Marcus is a sleazy capitalist who is only interested in her for her moneymaking potential?

Burlesque is a truly ridiculous affair. All dazzle, no edge but nonetheless a guilty pleasure of sorts. The script was originally written by Juno’s Diablo Cody who knows a thing or two about burlesque given her background as an exotic dancer. However, it is clear the script has been tinkered with beyond all recognition. I found myself longing to feel Cody’s presence in the film, despite my usual nonchalance about her work, but this feels like her territory and her draft was probably a lot edgier than this.

If you have any tolerance for this kind of nonsense and you are expecting the worst then you might buy into the stylistic opulence it serves up. The costumes are glorious, the Rob Marshall-lite performances are great fun and of course Christina’s vocals are incredible. Cher is unfortunately less successful musically. She still has the voice but her diction is somewhat garbled due to her stiff, botoxed face. The role of Tess is great fun for her I’m sure but the film is just so saccharine that she doesn’t get a chance to get down and dirty with the role. Christina’s acting is nothing to get excited about unfortunately. She isn’t terrible, but the character of Ali is just so ridiculously doe-eyed that it’s impossible to take her seriously.

Be prepared for a silly plot, some hammy performances, a lot of skin (but no bare breasts, don’t get too excited) and visual candy. If you know what you’re in for you might just enjoy this mess of glitter and tassles! Oh and it earns a whole extra star for Stanley Tucci’s marvellous presence!

- Charlene Lydon

Aaaaargh! Screen Screams. Film Ireland's Memories of Horror.

2010-11-01T12:44:00.000Z

Check out this great online article from FILM IRELAND that I contributed to. Very interesting and had great fun writing it up. My piece was on Tobe Hooper's Salem's Lot. Oft overlooked, but bloody scary!!

http://www.filmireland.net/2010/10/30/arghhhh-screen-screams-memories-of-horror/

Easy A

2010-10-22T14:19:00.001+01:00

Directed by: Will Gluck

Starring: Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Aly Michalka, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Lisa Kudrow.

Rating: 6/10

One of the greatest teen movies ever made, Clueless, was an update of Austen's Clueless. Likewise, Easy A is modern take on Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, this update is not half as clever or as relevant as it's predecessor. Olive is a funky, spunky, teenage girl who is well-liked but not really noticed in the social world of her high school. A bookish, witty and quietly hot young woman with a heart of gold, Olive accidentally lands herself in hot water by telling her overbearing best friend (Michalka) that she had lost her virginity. This tiny lie explodes all over school as the leader of a Christian mob (Bynes) spreads the rumour around like wildfire. As a favour to her gay friend, Olive agrees to pretend they have had sex so will stop getting bullied. Soon, she is accepting payment for saying she’s had sex with all the geeks and losers in school who hope that it will make them more appealing to girls. However, it isn’t long until the somewhat well-intentioned Olive finds herself in way over her head.

Easy A is a very entertaining film with some colourful supporting characters and a fantastic ensemble cast. Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci play Olive’s overly liberal, ex-hippy parents and are adorably quirky, yet extremely warm. Both characters give the film some of the depth that the shallow void of high school social politics takes away. Lisa Kudrow is also impressive as the school guidance counsellor who finds herself in a very tricky predicament. But enough about the grown-ups, this film’s young cast are all fantastic too! Emma Stone is a star on the rise since she appeared in Judd Apatow’s Superbad and easily graduates to leading lady playing the complex heroine of the film. She has a wonderful girl-next-door quality and is a likeable balance of attractive and ordinary-looking. She has great comic timing and ability to evoke warmth and chemistry with everyone she shares screen time with.

A major flaw in the film, despite Emma Stone’s great screen presence is that the character of Olive is poorly characterised and her change from confident young outcast to attention-seeking vixen is disarming and, unfortunately takes away from the film’s considerable charm in other departments. Olive is adorable and her change to corset-wearing vamp doesn’t quite gel with the smart, self-assured young women at the start of the film.

There’s something quite old-fashioned about Easy A. It seems to suggest that having teenage sex is shocking. I can’t imagine that there’s a high school in America (or anywhere in the western world) where a girl would become a celebrity because she admits to having lost her virginity. In many ways the film has a lot to say about teenagers and it goes to great pains to steer clear of patronising them, but there is nothing progressive about Olive’s story.

These flaws, though fundamental can’t dampen the high spirits of the film and the charming big heart that it wears on its sleeve. The script is at times eloquent, always hilarious and though it brandishes its John Hughes references a little too heavily at times, it does evoke his intuitive, respectful love of teenagers.

This is an enjoyable teen movie that could have been the next Mean Girls but misses the mark by poor characterisation. It’s still a fun trip to the cinema though!

The Social Network

2010-10-11T19:16:00.003+01:00

Written by: Aaron Sorkin

Directed by: David Fincher

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Rooney Mara

Rating: 10/10

Don’t be put off by the less than tantalising subject matter of David Fincher’s latest film, The Social Network. If the legal battles of the world’s youngest billionaire don’t sound like your cup of tea, do not deny yourself the chance to see this film. A distinctly unique film in every way, The Social Network balances the machine-gun and biting dialogue of Aaron Sorkin’s (The West Wing) script with the tension and atmospherics of Fincher’s direction in such a way that what is created is truly different to anything you’ve ever seen.

The opening scene of The Social Network, in which we are introduced to our protagonist Mark Zuckerberg, says everything about the character, his motivations and his contradictory personality that you could possibly want to know. He is on a date with Erica (Rooney Mara) and pontificating about the important of getting into the exclusive Finals Clubs at Harvard. The intensity with which he speaks and the determination in his voice speaks volumes about his obsession with success, not for money but for the power and social standing that comes with it. The girl is unimpressed, breaking up with him in a rage over his constant ranting, saying “you’re gonna go through life thinking girls don’t like you because you’re a nerd but that won’t be true. It will be because you’re an asshole”. Interesting setup for film’s hero. Sorkin’s script starts as it means to go on. As the story of Facebook’s inception unfolds it becomes clear that there are no heroes in this story, and no real villains. The hateful rich guys are really the victims and the underdogs are the wrong-doers. Empathy does not come into the equation.

It seems to me that the central discussion in the film is the delicacy of ideas. As technology moves forward, it seems it is not a matter of who is creative enough to push things forward but who will get there first. Sometimes the progress of technology dictates where the ideas will come from and it really was only a matter of time before someone came up with and idea like Facebook. So when the snooty Winklevoss twins approach computer genius Zuckerberg with an idea for a social networking site with the prospect of exclusivity, Zuckerberg hates them for placing such importance on something so shallow, but goes off and creates the site for more social reasons. Friends finding friends; looking up someone you meet in a bar, etc. Despite this “good intentions” perspective, Zuckerberg did, essentially, steal the idea from the Winklevoss’s (or Winklevi, as he refers to them). So when the lawsuits start to fly it’s not a matter of knowing who to root for, it’s just going along for the ethical ride.

It is a testament to the filmmakers that this film is as interesting as it is. It really shouldn’t be as thought-provoking or profound as it is. Aaron Sorkin proved as showrunner of The West Wing that he had the capability to see the good and evil in decisions, a person need not be evil to make a very poor decision. Here, in The Social Network, there are no black and white characters; the morals are decidedly grey making for a very mature take on the courtroom drama.

There is a fine mix of quirky wit and sober menace, with a wonderfully nuanced performance by Jesse Eisenberg who has previously shown great talent in the likes of The Squid and the Whale but lately seems to have been pigeon-holed as the poor man’s Michael Cera. It’s great to see him living up to his potential in a truly memorable performance. Justin Timberlake also impresses as the infinitely charismatic Sean Parker, creator of Napster, who comes on board with Facebook midway through its ascent, causing all sorts of internal ruptures. Credit must also go to Armie Hammer who played both Winklevoss twins with meat-headed vulgarity but also with maturity and humanity.

This is a film with universal appeal, it is simply an excellent film, it cannot be denied. It’s difficult to imagine anybody not getting hopelessly sucked into this story. Come Oscar time, if I don’t see Sorkin’s name in lights, I’m starting a Facebook group called “Like if you think The Academy are idiots”.

- Charlene Lydon (from: www.frankthemonkey.com)

Phantom's Cinerama 80's Horror

2010-10-06T11:38:00.001+01:00

The 80's was a time of great hyperbole; the clothes, the music, the horror movies. Artifice was hip, and it reflected in the grandiosity of the decade's horror films. Subtlety wasn't the key...no Blair Witch Project in the 80's. It was a decade of in yer face scary monsters, blood and good-natured horrific fun.

This year as part of the Screen Cinema's annual Scream Cinema Monster Mash, Phantom FM are inviting listeners to vote for their favourite horror film. The choices are delectable:

Evil Dead 2
The Shining
The Lost Boys
Poltergeist
Hellraiser
Friday the 13th
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

My money's on The Shining but my heart belongs to Poltergeist. There's a movie that deserves to be on the big screen!

Last year's Scream Cinema Monster Mash played such gems as Child's Play, The Thing and a surprise film which turned out to be Frank Darabont's The Mist, screened in black and white as he had originally intended. Superb! Hopefully this year's lineup will be as fun and varied as 2009.

So get on over to Phantom FM Cinerama and get voting (for Poltergeist)!

Seeya at the Scream Cinema!!