Year of Release: 2004
Director: Adam McKay
Screenplay: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, David Koechner
San Diego, the 1970s. In the cut-throat world of local television news, the winners are definitely the top-rated Channel 4 News Team: Sports reporter Champ Kind (Koechner), roving reporter Brian Fantana (Rudd), weatherman Brick Tamland (Carrell) and their leader anchorman Ron Burgundy (Ferrell). They are trusted, respected and beloved by the entire city. However their cozy male-dominated world is threatened by the arrival of ambitious reporter Veronica Corningstone (Applegate). After the whole gang make several inept attempts to seduce her, Veronica soon strikes up a relationship with Ron. however he is shocked when she reveals her plans to become a network anchor, not least by the fact that she is probably better at it than he is.
The film is constantly entertaining and most of the time it is extremely funny with many laugh out loud moments. Ferrell turns in a fantastic comic performance as the deluded, chauvinistic Ron Burgundy, who always manages to make a potentially horrible character sympathetic and kind of likable. The rest of the cast deliver pitch-perfect performances and there is brilliant rapport among them all. The script is well-written and funny and packed with memorable, quotable dialogue. Also it all looks very stylish, providing a fun take on the world of local TV news in the 70s. It may not be a masterpiece but there is plenty to enjoy and it holds up well to repeat viewings.
Deleted scenes and alternate takes from the movie were re-edited into a separate direct-to-DVD film called Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (2004). A sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, was released in 2013.
Saturday, 21 December 2013
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Gravity
Year of Release: 2013
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Screenplay: Alfonso Cuaron and Jonas Cuaron
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
This film is kind of a disaster movie in space. Doctor Ryan Stone (Bullock) is a Mission Specialist on her first space shuttle mission, accompanied by veteran astronaut Matthew Kowalski (Clooney). Their mission is to perform maintenance on the Hubble Space Telescope. They run into trouble when they are struck by high speed debris from a destroyed satellite. Ryan becomes detached and is sent spinning off into space. With oxygen rapidly diminishing and the shuttle destroyed they have to stay alive and fund a way to return home.
This film is almost entirely a two-hander between Bullock and Clooney. They are the only characters on screen, even though there are radio transmissions from other astronauts and Mission Control. The film is a staggeringly beautiful experience as the astronauts and spacecraft tumble and fall against backdrops of starfields and the earth so near and so far.
It is also anchored by two powerful performances, particularly from Bullock who really provides the film's heart and soul as the terrified and vulnerable and yet strong and resourceful Ryan.
It is definitely advisable to see it on the biggest screen you can and also in 3-D. Yes, it is one of those very rare films where 3-D is actually a huge benefit to the experience.
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Screenplay: Alfonso Cuaron and Jonas Cuaron
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
This film is kind of a disaster movie in space. Doctor Ryan Stone (Bullock) is a Mission Specialist on her first space shuttle mission, accompanied by veteran astronaut Matthew Kowalski (Clooney). Their mission is to perform maintenance on the Hubble Space Telescope. They run into trouble when they are struck by high speed debris from a destroyed satellite. Ryan becomes detached and is sent spinning off into space. With oxygen rapidly diminishing and the shuttle destroyed they have to stay alive and fund a way to return home.
This film is almost entirely a two-hander between Bullock and Clooney. They are the only characters on screen, even though there are radio transmissions from other astronauts and Mission Control. The film is a staggeringly beautiful experience as the astronauts and spacecraft tumble and fall against backdrops of starfields and the earth so near and so far.
It is also anchored by two powerful performances, particularly from Bullock who really provides the film's heart and soul as the terrified and vulnerable and yet strong and resourceful Ryan.
It is definitely advisable to see it on the biggest screen you can and also in 3-D. Yes, it is one of those very rare films where 3-D is actually a huge benefit to the experience.
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Pigsty
Year of Release: 1969
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Screenplay: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Starring: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Marco Ferreri, Ugo Tognazzi, Pierre Clementi, Alberto Lionello, Franco Citti, Anne Wiazemsky
This Italian film interweaves two separate storylines. In the first one, set in an unnamed desolate, volcanic landscape, at an unspecified historical period, a young cannibal thug (Clementi) roams around attacking soldiers and with a small band of similar outsiders ravages the country. In the second story, set in 1967 Germany, Julian (Leaud), the son of a hugely wealthy industrialist, is unable to connect with politically-engaged girlfriend Ida (Wizemsky). When Julian inexplicably falls into a coma, he is used as a pawn in a power game between his father (Lionello) and a business rival (Tognazzi).
This film is a bleakly savage satire on human nature and cruelty. Although there is at first glance little to connect the first, almost completely dialogue free historical story to the contemporary one, there are similar themes recurring throughout both. The first deals with the human capacity for cruelty and anarchy, the second connects capitalist business to Nazism (Pasolini was a committed Marxist).
The film is very well-made and full of memorable images, it is also indubitably a work of art, and a powerful and fearsome one at that. However it is so unremittingly bleak, it's hard to imagine many viewers actually enjoying it.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Screenplay: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Starring: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Marco Ferreri, Ugo Tognazzi, Pierre Clementi, Alberto Lionello, Franco Citti, Anne Wiazemsky
This Italian film interweaves two separate storylines. In the first one, set in an unnamed desolate, volcanic landscape, at an unspecified historical period, a young cannibal thug (Clementi) roams around attacking soldiers and with a small band of similar outsiders ravages the country. In the second story, set in 1967 Germany, Julian (Leaud), the son of a hugely wealthy industrialist, is unable to connect with politically-engaged girlfriend Ida (Wizemsky). When Julian inexplicably falls into a coma, he is used as a pawn in a power game between his father (Lionello) and a business rival (Tognazzi).
This film is a bleakly savage satire on human nature and cruelty. Although there is at first glance little to connect the first, almost completely dialogue free historical story to the contemporary one, there are similar themes recurring throughout both. The first deals with the human capacity for cruelty and anarchy, the second connects capitalist business to Nazism (Pasolini was a committed Marxist).
The film is very well-made and full of memorable images, it is also indubitably a work of art, and a powerful and fearsome one at that. However it is so unremittingly bleak, it's hard to imagine many viewers actually enjoying it.
Radio Days
Year of Release: 1987
Director: Woody Allen
Screenplay: Woody Allen
Starring: Seth Green, Mia Farrow, Julie Kavner, Danny Aiello, Michael Tucker, Dianne Wiest, Tony Roberts, Jeff Daniels, Woody Allen
This is a funny, heart-warming, nostalgic take on the Golden Age of radio. There is not really a plot as such, more a series of anecdotes and episodes revolving around life in a large Jewish-American family living in the Rockaway Beach area of New York City during the 1940s, as seen through the eyes of ten year old Joe (Green, with Allen narrating as the adult Joe), and all linked by the always present radio. Intermixed with these episodes are tales of the radio stars themselves.
This is one of Woody Allen's finest films. It is very funny and sometimes genuinely moving. The film features a large cast of characters and a very ambitious structure. Allen manages to interweave the many storylines perfectly so that it does feel like a cohesive whole, and none of the cast strike a wrong note. The period atmosphere is evocatively depicted.
Allen has stated that the film is in many places autobiographical and there is a real bittersweet quality, and nostalgic yearning for a long-gone age. The soundtrack of period songs is fantastic.
Director: Woody Allen
Screenplay: Woody Allen
Starring: Seth Green, Mia Farrow, Julie Kavner, Danny Aiello, Michael Tucker, Dianne Wiest, Tony Roberts, Jeff Daniels, Woody Allen
This is a funny, heart-warming, nostalgic take on the Golden Age of radio. There is not really a plot as such, more a series of anecdotes and episodes revolving around life in a large Jewish-American family living in the Rockaway Beach area of New York City during the 1940s, as seen through the eyes of ten year old Joe (Green, with Allen narrating as the adult Joe), and all linked by the always present radio. Intermixed with these episodes are tales of the radio stars themselves.
This is one of Woody Allen's finest films. It is very funny and sometimes genuinely moving. The film features a large cast of characters and a very ambitious structure. Allen manages to interweave the many storylines perfectly so that it does feel like a cohesive whole, and none of the cast strike a wrong note. The period atmosphere is evocatively depicted.
Allen has stated that the film is in many places autobiographical and there is a real bittersweet quality, and nostalgic yearning for a long-gone age. The soundtrack of period songs is fantastic.
Sunday, 10 November 2013
The Darkest Hour
Year of Release: 2011
Director: Chris Gorak
Screenplay: Joe Spaihts, story by Leslie Bohem, M.T. Ahern and Joe Spaihts
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman
This alien invasion movie opens with two American entrepreneurs, Sean (Hirsch) and Ben(Minghella), who travel to Moscow to sell their new idea for a social networking site. However when they arrive they discover that their Swedish partner, Skyler (Kinnaman), has betrayed them and sold the idea beneath them. Drowning their sorrows in a club, Ben and Sean meet tourists Natalie (Thirlby) and Anne (Taylor). Suddenly, however, the city comes under attack from invisible aliens who disintegrate people. By the morning, Sean, Ben, Natalie, Anne and Skyler are forced to venture out to find safety and other survivors while avoiding the aggressive aliens.
This film really is pretty terrible. The storyline is full of clichés and the characters are almost non-existent. There are some effective sequences, with the deserted Moscow streets being very evocative, and there is some tension in certain scenes. The problem is that there is very little suspense, probably most fans of this type of film would be able to easily guess who is going to live or die, and the storyline is fairly predictable, pretty much involving the same pattern where the characters rest up somewhere and then realise that they should get to somewhere else necessitating a dangerous trek across the city. The aliens themselves, although largely invisible, make their presence known by appearing as kind of golden, glowing dust clouds and causing electrical items to flicker.
Director: Chris Gorak
Screenplay: Joe Spaihts, story by Leslie Bohem, M.T. Ahern and Joe Spaihts
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman
This alien invasion movie opens with two American entrepreneurs, Sean (Hirsch) and Ben(Minghella), who travel to Moscow to sell their new idea for a social networking site. However when they arrive they discover that their Swedish partner, Skyler (Kinnaman), has betrayed them and sold the idea beneath them. Drowning their sorrows in a club, Ben and Sean meet tourists Natalie (Thirlby) and Anne (Taylor). Suddenly, however, the city comes under attack from invisible aliens who disintegrate people. By the morning, Sean, Ben, Natalie, Anne and Skyler are forced to venture out to find safety and other survivors while avoiding the aggressive aliens.
This film really is pretty terrible. The storyline is full of clichés and the characters are almost non-existent. There are some effective sequences, with the deserted Moscow streets being very evocative, and there is some tension in certain scenes. The problem is that there is very little suspense, probably most fans of this type of film would be able to easily guess who is going to live or die, and the storyline is fairly predictable, pretty much involving the same pattern where the characters rest up somewhere and then realise that they should get to somewhere else necessitating a dangerous trek across the city. The aliens themselves, although largely invisible, make their presence known by appearing as kind of golden, glowing dust clouds and causing electrical items to flicker.
Saturday, 2 November 2013
Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages
Year of Release: 1922
Director: Benjamin Christensen
Written By: Benjamin Christensen
Starring: Benjamin Christensen, Clara Pontoppidan, Oscar Stribolt, Astrid Holm, Maren Pedersen
Running Time: 104 minutes (74 minute 1968 re-release)
This silent Swedish/Danish co-production is a bizarre and sometimes brilliant fusion of documentary, drama, fantasy and animation detailing superstitions and beliefs in witches and witchcraft from the medieval times through to the 1920s. It discusses the persecution of the witch-hunts and how superstition and misunderstanding of disease and mental illness caused the fear and hysteria that led to belief in the supernatural and the witch-hunts.
The film features many dramatised scenes which depict witchcraft and various Satanic rites as well as the tortures of the Inquisition. These are grotesque, nightmarish and still striking even today, and have proved hugely influential on later horror films. The most expensive Scandinavian film made up to that time, it was hugely controversial upon release, for it's then quite graphic nudity and torture scenes, and was banned and censored in many countries.
However there is much more to Haxan then weird and horrific vignettes. The film makes an important point about the way the elderly, the mentally ill and others are treated throughout history, and Christensen is highly critical of how they were treated in his own society.
The film was revived in 1968 in a shortened form as a fully-fledged cult film with a jazz score and narration by author William S. Burroughs.
This is a bona fide classic and a definite must see for anyone interested in witchcraft or in horror films.
Director: Benjamin Christensen
Written By: Benjamin Christensen
Starring: Benjamin Christensen, Clara Pontoppidan, Oscar Stribolt, Astrid Holm, Maren Pedersen
Running Time: 104 minutes (74 minute 1968 re-release)
This silent Swedish/Danish co-production is a bizarre and sometimes brilliant fusion of documentary, drama, fantasy and animation detailing superstitions and beliefs in witches and witchcraft from the medieval times through to the 1920s. It discusses the persecution of the witch-hunts and how superstition and misunderstanding of disease and mental illness caused the fear and hysteria that led to belief in the supernatural and the witch-hunts.
The film features many dramatised scenes which depict witchcraft and various Satanic rites as well as the tortures of the Inquisition. These are grotesque, nightmarish and still striking even today, and have proved hugely influential on later horror films. The most expensive Scandinavian film made up to that time, it was hugely controversial upon release, for it's then quite graphic nudity and torture scenes, and was banned and censored in many countries.
However there is much more to Haxan then weird and horrific vignettes. The film makes an important point about the way the elderly, the mentally ill and others are treated throughout history, and Christensen is highly critical of how they were treated in his own society.
The film was revived in 1968 in a shortened form as a fully-fledged cult film with a jazz score and narration by author William S. Burroughs.
This is a bona fide classic and a definite must see for anyone interested in witchcraft or in horror films.
Halloween: Resurrection
Year of Release: 2002
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Written By: Larry Brand and Sean Hood, from a story by Sean Hood and based on characters created by Debra Hill and John Carpenter
Starring: Busta Rhymes, Bianca Kajlich, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Ryan Merriman, Sean Patrick Thomas, Tyra Banks and Jamie Lee Curtis
Running Time: 90 minutes
This is the eighth film in the Halloween series of horror films, and follows on from the conclusion of the previous entry Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998). After a prologue featuring Laurie Strode (Curtis) in a psychiatric hospital after the events of the previous film, the story proper begins a year later when six students take part in a live on-line broadcast called Dangertainment run by producer Freddie Harris (Rhymes) where they have to spend Halloween night in the childhood home of serial killer Michael Myers (Brad Loree) and discover what led him to kill. Needless to say, the real Myers soon pops up and begins slicing and dicing.
By the time this film was released, the resurgence in popularity of slasher movies in the wake of Scream (1996) and it's sequels had fully died out and there is the feeling watching it that by this time even the filmmakers had basically stopped caring about the Michael Myers story, which is more or less wrapped up in the prologue (as with it's predecessor, this film completely ignores the fourth, fifth and sixth film, and the third film doesn't feature Myers and has nothing to do with the rest of the Halloween series).
There are some interesting ideas here. The live internet broadcast thing is interesting, but isn't really developed, and the themes of reality television and violence as entertainment have been dealt with before. The idea of showing people at a party watching the broadcast and commenting on it is sometimes amusing and sometimes irritating. The cast are mostly bland, with only Busta Rhymes having any real character, and Jamie Lee Curtis who only appears in a cameo, has nothing to do. The direction is pretty workmanlike (Rick Rosenthal previously directed Halloween II (1981)). Another problem is that it is shot so darkly it is hard to see what is happening a lot of the time.
It's really only for Halloween fans.
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Written By: Larry Brand and Sean Hood, from a story by Sean Hood and based on characters created by Debra Hill and John Carpenter
Starring: Busta Rhymes, Bianca Kajlich, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Ryan Merriman, Sean Patrick Thomas, Tyra Banks and Jamie Lee Curtis
Running Time: 90 minutes
This is the eighth film in the Halloween series of horror films, and follows on from the conclusion of the previous entry Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998). After a prologue featuring Laurie Strode (Curtis) in a psychiatric hospital after the events of the previous film, the story proper begins a year later when six students take part in a live on-line broadcast called Dangertainment run by producer Freddie Harris (Rhymes) where they have to spend Halloween night in the childhood home of serial killer Michael Myers (Brad Loree) and discover what led him to kill. Needless to say, the real Myers soon pops up and begins slicing and dicing.
By the time this film was released, the resurgence in popularity of slasher movies in the wake of Scream (1996) and it's sequels had fully died out and there is the feeling watching it that by this time even the filmmakers had basically stopped caring about the Michael Myers story, which is more or less wrapped up in the prologue (as with it's predecessor, this film completely ignores the fourth, fifth and sixth film, and the third film doesn't feature Myers and has nothing to do with the rest of the Halloween series).
There are some interesting ideas here. The live internet broadcast thing is interesting, but isn't really developed, and the themes of reality television and violence as entertainment have been dealt with before. The idea of showing people at a party watching the broadcast and commenting on it is sometimes amusing and sometimes irritating. The cast are mostly bland, with only Busta Rhymes having any real character, and Jamie Lee Curtis who only appears in a cameo, has nothing to do. The direction is pretty workmanlike (Rick Rosenthal previously directed Halloween II (1981)). Another problem is that it is shot so darkly it is hard to see what is happening a lot of the time.
It's really only for Halloween fans.
Friday, 25 October 2013
Class of Nuke 'Em High
Year of Release: 1986
Directors: Richard W. Haines, Michael Herz and Samuel Weil
Writers: Lloyd Kaufman, Richard W. Haines, Mark Rudnitsky and Stuart Strutin
Starring: Janelle Brady, Gil Brenton, Robert Prichard, Pat Ryan
This is a comedy horror high school movie from cult production company Troma Entertainment. In the town of Tromaville, New Jersey, the local high school is only a quarter of a mile away from the nuclear power station. The honor society have transformed into violent mindless thugs who call themselves "the Cretins". They sell the students contaminated drugs, which cause strange changes in nice high school couple Chrissy (Brady) and Warren (Brenton). To make matters worse, there is a baby monster in the basement which has grown into a big monster.
The film is technically bad on almost every level (although the monster does look pretty impressive), the acting is atrocious, the jokes are bad and it is awash with gratuitous violence. However, none of that matters, because the film is actually a lot of fun. The filmmakers are in on the joke. They obviously knew their audience and it's perfectly tuned to the midnight movie cult crowd. It zips along merrily enough and it never gets boring. If your a fan of cult cinema or are just looking for a campy fun movie to laugh at with your friends then you'll probably enjoy it.
There is a kind of satirical undercurrent to it about nuclear safety (the staff of the plant are depicted almost unanimously as being completely incompetent or crooked, even though it is full of posters proclaiming how clean and safe nuclear power is) and also about fears of rebellious youth (in the principal's office one of the Cretins sneers "We're the youth of today" and they all start singing the "Star Spangled Banner").
Directors: Richard W. Haines, Michael Herz and Samuel Weil
Writers: Lloyd Kaufman, Richard W. Haines, Mark Rudnitsky and Stuart Strutin
Starring: Janelle Brady, Gil Brenton, Robert Prichard, Pat Ryan
This is a comedy horror high school movie from cult production company Troma Entertainment. In the town of Tromaville, New Jersey, the local high school is only a quarter of a mile away from the nuclear power station. The honor society have transformed into violent mindless thugs who call themselves "the Cretins". They sell the students contaminated drugs, which cause strange changes in nice high school couple Chrissy (Brady) and Warren (Brenton). To make matters worse, there is a baby monster in the basement which has grown into a big monster.
The film is technically bad on almost every level (although the monster does look pretty impressive), the acting is atrocious, the jokes are bad and it is awash with gratuitous violence. However, none of that matters, because the film is actually a lot of fun. The filmmakers are in on the joke. They obviously knew their audience and it's perfectly tuned to the midnight movie cult crowd. It zips along merrily enough and it never gets boring. If your a fan of cult cinema or are just looking for a campy fun movie to laugh at with your friends then you'll probably enjoy it.
There is a kind of satirical undercurrent to it about nuclear safety (the staff of the plant are depicted almost unanimously as being completely incompetent or crooked, even though it is full of posters proclaiming how clean and safe nuclear power is) and also about fears of rebellious youth (in the principal's office one of the Cretins sneers "We're the youth of today" and they all start singing the "Star Spangled Banner").
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