November 2010

Leslie Nielson 1926 – 2010

11th February 1926 – 28th November 2010

“Doing nothing is very hard to do, you never know when you’re finished.”

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Out Now – 26th November 2010

So many films out today that this post is late. It has nothing to do with red wine and a lie in.

The American
At the Mild Concern London Film Festival Awards 2010 it won most forgettable film. We reviewed it here. What more do you want!? All right, it’s about a former assassin who is in hiding and making a gun to order. Also there’s a prostitute.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
I know so little about this series but they keep coming. I’ll probably be lame and just see the American version when it comes out. Stuff happens that is dark and violent… I think.

London Boulevard
I keep meaning to watch the trailer for this but somehow I can bring myself to care enough to do so. Farrell and Knightley star in a film about gangsters and a movie star.

Machete
Hey that hilarious trailer is now a film and in the cinemas! Nudity, guns and funnies! It’s like a Mexican Black Dynamite… is that racist?

An Ordinary Execution
The Guardian’s film of the week, “A pungently atmospheric chamber piece about the nature and history of Russian political power.” Crikey.

Leap Year (limited release)
Not the horrible Amy Adams comedy but a drama about someone that wants to commit suicide. I hope someone gets confused at HMV and has the most depressing girly night in ever.

The Scar Crow (limited release)
“The 3 Tanner sisters live in fear after their mother is hanged for witchcraft, in her absence their father takes advantage of his daughters leaving the family somewhere between life and death cursed for an eternity.” Take the kids!

Waiting for Superman (limited release)
Oscar nomination short-listed documentary following four youngsters in the American school system. I bet it doesn’t come out well.

Related posts:

Out Now - 26th February 2010
The American - Review
Brighton Rock - Review

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – Review

I’m not someone who holds Alfonso Cuarón’s Potter film as the best of the series, those early films were all pretty terrible. The plots were mangled and cut down and the three leads simply couldn’t act. Luckily each film is better than the last and the latest is easily the best.

By splitting the film into two they have the time to really tell the book’s story, including all the slow bits that make it so much more than just a fun adventure film for kids.

With Potter and friends away from Hogwarts the story rests on the three actors shoulders more than ever before and Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have all come on leaps and bounds. Emma Watson no longer overuses her eyebrows, Daniel Radcliffe can show all kinds of emotions and Rupert Grint doesn’t just do comedy reactions any more.

David Yates has done a great job and I only wish he had directed the first four films and they the benefit of knowing how the series was going to end when the first was written. It’s also a shame that the main actors learnt to act while filming a major movie franchise.

Probably not a film for non-Potter fans but I really enjoyed it, and it has the best animated sequence I’ve seen in a long time. Bring on July.

Related posts:

MTV Awards Debut Potter and Pilgrim Clips
The Best is Yet to Come: 2011
The Blog Who Lived

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Out Now – 24th November 2010

Thankfully films only come out on two different days this week. Today’s release really doesn’t look as good as Potter.

Unstoppable
OMG a train is hurtling towards a city! And onboard an old engineer and young conductor must overcome their differences to save the day! I have no idea how a train can crash into anything that isn’t already on the track… I’m sure they explain it though.

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Sooo…. There’s Going to be a Buffy Film

The rumours of a new Buffy film appear to be true. Written not by Joss Whedon but by Whit Anderson who is… someone apparently.

This is essentially a reboot, something that is happing to franchises much sooner these days with varying degrees of success. Oh Spiderman, how I love you.

I could happily go off on a rant about leaving well enough alone, but this is a particular franchise that I am a little too close to to be objective. Once the film is out I will be judging it, but not before. Here are four reasons I’ll be waiting to judge:

1. Reboots can sometimes be good.
2. Joss Whedon has messed up the franchise himself in the “Season 8″ comics.
3. I actually enjoyed the original film, not a lot but it is fun.
4. No matter how bad the film is it can’t stop the original series being my favourite series ever.

Give me a year and I’ll be treating Whit Anderson like she’s James Cameron.

Related posts:

Antman A Go Go
Edgar Wright Cheats on Girlfriend With a Man
Cabin in the Woods - Trailer

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