FILM OF THE WEEK: Black Cat (Gatto Nero)

(1981) (18): Obscure slice of Italian horror, shot and set in rural England as director Lucio Fulci loosely tackles a classic tale by Edgar Allen Poe. Like a lot of Fulci's films, its got a strong concept let down a little by a lack of budget and/or capabilities but for those, like me, who have a weakness for such material, it's worth a slight reccomendation.

Les Misérables (12a): Tom Hooper's adaptation of the Schoenberg and Boublil musical, based on the Victor Hugo epic. Easily the best film of 2013 so far (though it was released in the US last year), the film matches, and even surpasses, the stage musical for stage and grandeur with amazing vocal performances from all the cast (admit it: Russel Crowe isn't as bad a singer as Pierce Brosnan). The first film to get a five star reccomendation for me this year, something no film last year managed.

PLAYING FOR KEEPS REVIEW

It's a bad sign when you're watching a comedy and laughing...but not at the jokes. Playing For Keeps boasts a high-profile cast (Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Catherine Zeta Jones) and goes somewhere fairly new, but isn't funny, nor particularly heartfelt and has poor motivations for the characters. In this film, two divorced parents seek to mend their differences and no-one, not even good people or moving on from said marriage is safe. Not a great lesson. (Cert: 12a)

FILM OF THE WEEK: Fargo (1996) (Cert: 18)

 

One of the best films of the 1990's (and one of my personal favourites) folksy comedy meets tense crime thriller in one the most definitive works by the Coen brothers and a theme that sounds like it belongs in a Spaghetti Western set in Middle Earth. It's a great little movie, you betcha!

The Impossible

New film from J.A Bayona, director of El Orfanato (The Orphanage) (2007) explores some of the similar themes, particularly the bonding between parent and child. Harrowing and emotive with a astounding sound design, even if the (true) story does downplay the impact of the events of December 26th 2004 on the people of Thailand.

Parental Guidnace

 
Family comedy starring Billy Crystal has a strong opening and then goes largely downhill for about 30mins. After that, it perks back up leaving with a surprisingly mature (at times) picture, with a good cast.

Looking Forward/Looking Back: 2012 In Review 3/3

2012 was an interesting year for films. I wouldn’t say there were any five-star classics in 2012, but there were plenty of strong films and despite fears that cinema attendance is down in recent years (to be fair, cinema attendance has been going downhill since the introduction of television) this year did provide us with two films to have grossed over one billion US dollars, a very rare feat, with both The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall breaching the marker. That the two films also rank amongst the most acclaimed films of the year (compare the hugely lucrative but critically loathed Transformers films) demonstrates that audiences don’t just go for lowest-common-denominator fluff (although only with Skyfall has the long-held snobbishness against James Bond films seems to have lifted).

 

On the other side, 3D is proving resilient, but slowly it seems that format is reaching a moderation point, compared to the 3D madness a couple of years ago. 3D is a format best suited for two things. One, to embrace the cheesiness of the entire gimmick (I’m sorry 3D lovers, 3D is a gimmick and when it hasn’t been in style, it’s been a laughing stock) such as in films like Piranha 3DD or in the odd occasion, where it’s actually used artistically. 2011’s Hugo is still the best use of the format yet in my eyes, but Life Of Pi has its moments.

 

2012 also showcases another new way in which to watch films with Peter Jackson’s use of 48 frames-per-second, twice the normal frame-rate of 24 in The Hobbit. The purpose for this is to aid with clarity and quality and picture and it’s an experiment which works…a little too well. Maybe this is a case off audiences not ready for such a major transition. After decades of experiencing films at 24fps, watching such a format becomes second-nature, so understandably, 48fps is a little jarring. When watching The Hobbit at 48fps, I confess, I actually briefly thought there was a problem with the projector initially, as everything seemed to be moving so quickly. I quickly realised this was not the case. It’s just because it is so detailed that in that surrounding, it can be disorienting to watch something move with such detail.

 

Clarity does not necessarily mean quality. A resounding criticism of The Hobbit was that it was very obvious at points that the film was being produced on a set and that the artificiality of surroundings was glaringly apparent. Films have often been compared to being akin to dreams, and that’s sort of how I see them.48fps brings realism, but realism is only an element of why people watch films. 24fps separates us from reality and provides a more suitable ambience than 48fps. Perhaps in the future, we will see 48fps become the standard bearer. Perhaps we will see people get used to the format, perhaps we will see it better executed and it may be that one day we’ll look upon 48fps compared to 24fps, the same way we look at colour compared to black and white. That still doesn’t mean that there isn’t artistry to black and white.

 

Lucasfilm was bought out by Disney this year and as a result, there are apparently new Star Wars films on the horizon, with the first being expected around 2015. What this means for other Lucasfilm properties is uncertain. There have been rumours since Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008) that there will be a fifth Indiana Jones film. Disney, seemingly has a say in that now, if that hasn’t been abandoned altogether. It should also be noted about how big Disney’s acquisition actually is. With Lucasfilm under their belt, Disney now also own Industrial Light And Magic along with Skywalker Sound; among the biggest, if not the biggest, special effects and film sound production companies in Hollywood.

 

Disney has also recently been pulling out it’s back-catalogue, retro-fitting it for 3D. 2011 gave us 1994’s The Lion King in 3D, this year, at least here in the UK, we got Beauty And The Beast in 3D. What does this change? Not a darn thing. The 3D is completely pointless, but it’s worth celebrating some of the best animated films of all time being back in theatres. We also saw in 2012, limited re-releases of such British classics as Chariots Of Fire (1981) and Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) along with a whole slew of significant films popping up in independent cinemas as part of the 100^th anniversary of the British Film Institute (BFI). The British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC) also celebrated 100 years in 2012.

 

So what does 2013 have on the horizon? Well, with Award Season looming up, two of the biggest contenders for the Oscars that have already been released stateside in 2012, Lincoln and Les Miserables, are expected do very well as is Wreck-It Ralph a project from Disney Animation. There’s also a large number of horror remakes on the horizon including Carrie (a version that seems more faithful to Stephen King’s original novel), Evil Dead (by the looks of things, a darker version than the 1981 Sam Raimi cult classic, or at least what that became) and possibly a remake of Dario Argento’s surrealistic 1977 masterpiece, Suspiria (although this has been in an embryonic form for a few years). There’s also a 3D sequel to Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) to kick off the year’s horror selection.

 

Oz: The Great And Powerful, Sam Raimi’s take on Frank L Baum’s The Wizard Of Oz is coming up as well as Gangster Squad, the next film in Hollywood’s current love affair with gangster films pushed up alongside vehicles for Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Last Stand) and Sylvester Stallone (Bullet To The Head) which has already been released in the US as has Django Unchained; Quentin Tarantino’s latest and perhaps his most blatant attempt at merging his love of Blaxploitation and Spaghetti Westerns. Whilst the Western genre will also have a re-boot of The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp.

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug is due in 2013 as well as zombie epic World War Z and the world’s other next attempt at a Zom-Rom-Com (following Shaun Of The Dead (2004)), Warm Bodies, starring Nicholas Hoult; who will also appear in Jack The Giant Killer; a grittier take on Jack And The Beanstalk.

 

Star Trek Into Darkness seems set to being one of the top sci-fi money spinners of 2013 alongside an adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. Monsters U will be Pixar’s next attempt at a sequel (the original Monsters Inc (2003) will also be retro-fitted into 3D and put into cinemas) and Man Of Steel is already getting big promotion.   

 

2013 is certainly looking like it will be a big year at the movies.