RIP Diabolik!

Anyone who knows me will know that Danger Diabolik is one of my favourite films so I was very sad to here that the film's star John Philip Law passed away this week at the age of 70. As well as the Mario Bava classic; Law is best known for his roles in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Roger Vadim's Barbarella. The world of international espionage will never be the same!

Sydney Film Festival 2008 line-up announced

Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend the announcement of this year’s line up of the Sydney Film Festival.

Once again it looks like an entertaining and enthralling line up. Of the films announced by the festival’s director Claire Stewart, there were definitely a few stand outs. The new Official Competition brings twelve Australian premieres, three of which are world premieres. Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky has been widely acclaimed for a fabulous performance by Sally Hawkins and is the Opening Film of the Festival. Steve McQueen’s Hunger tells the story of hunger striker Bobby Sands and the ever reliable Guy Maddin will be narrating his latest film My Winnipeg live on stage at a Gala screening.

Of the clips shown Samuel Bencheritrit’s I Always Wanted to be a Gangster and Roy Andersson’s hilarious looking You, The Living both brought the house down. The Aussie documentary Salute looks fabulous; telling the story of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico and the politic statement that changed three athletes’ lives forever. The style of the film recalls Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary story of the New York Cosmos, one of my favourite documentaries of recent times, with its use of vintage archival footage. Other documentaries include American Teen (The Breakfast Club made flesh) Glass: A Portrait of Philip Glass in Twelve Parts (happy, happy, happy!) and Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter. S. Thompson. The trailer for Michael Haneke’s remake of his own 1997 Funny Games looked incredibly disturbing and will hopefully match the originals harrowing storyline. Having Naomi Watts and Tim Roth in the film will certainly help but it remains to seen whether the curse of the Hollywood remake continues…fingers crossed.

Music will once again play a major part of the festival at the Metro Theatre. Special nights are planned around many of the films. Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story and Anvil: The Story of Anvil (a true life Spinal Tap) in particular have themed nights with DJs and live bands to enhance your viewing pleasure.

For me, at first glance of the program, I was also very happy to see two new film’s from Takashi Miike – Crows: Episode 0 and Sukiyuki Western Django, the prolific director’s tribute to Sergio Corbucci’s classic spaghetti western Django, Brian DePalma’s Redacted and Son of Rambow – the story of two young boys remaking Rambo in their backyard. The horror genre is somewhat lacking this year round but two film’s do show promise. Oliver Blackburn’s UK low budget thriller Donkey Punch takes terror from Leeds to Mallorca as three brash young girls go on holiday for a good time and rather predictably…don’t get it when they head out on a cruise (Ladettes to Ladies meets Dead Calm anyone?) and the Icelandic murder mystery Jar City just looks grim, the scene when the film’s ‘hero’ tucks into a sheep’s head are not want you want to see over coffee on a Thursday morning!

And the fact that Jack Black will be introducing the Australian premiere of Kung Fu Panda is just the icing on the cake! This is only a very small selection of the huge amount of films showing between June 4^th and 22^nd. Check out www.sydneyfilmfestival.org and check back here for my reviews and interviews as the festival gets under way. Happy Viewing!

Captive thoughts!

Later today I’ll be producing this weeks Cinemascape show at 6pm on Eastside 89.7 FM. The show will feature reviews of Iron Man, Mrs Pettigrew Lives for the Day and my review of Roland Joffe’s Captivity starring 24’s Elisha Cuthbert. Tune in to hear my thoughts!

Keanu Reeves interview

For those of you in Sydney; you’ll be able to read my interview with Keanu Reeves in Drum Media this week. In town to promote his new film Street Kings, the actor waxed lyrical about Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Point Break and having mud thrown at him at the Glastonbury Festival. He also talked about his next film; a remake of Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still. “It’s looking great,” he exclaimed, “I just finished filming that. It’s a great cast; Jennifer Connelly, Cathy Bates, myself, John Cleese and Jaden Smith. I think we did a good job; knock on wood. I didn’t jump in to make a remake of a classic, I worked with the writer and director almost two months and trying to get the script. I think we found a reason why to make it; we needed that story to tell our story. We’ve linked them up in a really good way. What Klatu is in the first film, what Klaatu is in the second and what gets spoken about?….and Gort’s around” he reassured me, “Klaatu Barada Nikto! he had to be, It would be like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without any peanut butter!”

London to Brighton interviews

Any regular readers of my blog may well remember how much I loved London to Brighton when it screened at the Sydney Film Festival last year. So obviously I was delighted to be asked by Siren Visual, the film’s Australia distributor, if I wanted to interview the film’s director Paul Andrew Williams and star Georgia Groome. I’m even more thrilled that the interviews are now appearing at www.empireonline.com.au.

U2 3D

After a very busy week; deadlines and Keanu Reeves interviews abound (more news soon), I realized I did not update you on my appearance on Cinemascape last week. I produced the show and reviewed U2 3D at the IMAX. As a U2 fan I must admit I was mightily impressed and to use that worn out cliché, it was just like being there. Saying that if are not fond of the bands often outspoken singer; then I’m sure the prospect of having a 30 ft tall Bono sitting in your lap may not be high on your cinema going agenda. One day all concert films will be like this.

Latest News

Here's a bit of an update; these are the latest articles of mine hitting the newsagents shelves soon. Issue #137 of Shivers includes my set report from Shane Abbess' Gabriel which has just received its DVD release in the States. The issue also includes my interview with director Jamie Blanks about his new horror film Storm Warning. The next issue marks the beginning of lots of coverage from my set visit on The Ruins.

The latest issue of Smoke and Mirrors includes further scrawlings from my set on The Ruins including interviews with Jena Malone, director Carter Smith and Joe Anderson. I also contributed a NZ Report on the making of Roland Emmerich’s 10,000BC including an interview with the film’s CG Supervisor Alex Wuttke.

The next issue of Filmink will feature an interview with Jena Malone conducted on The Ruins Queensland set along with a preview of Jon Hewitt’s Acolytes including an interview with Joel Edgerton.

In web based news, as well as my blog on the London Frightfest website www.frightfest.co.uk I now am contributing a blog to the Sydney based horror festival taking place this week. The A Night of Horror line up and my blog can be found at www.anightofhorror.com.

The Eye

This Friday I’m on producer duty again on Cinemascape. The show features reviews of Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park, the space travel documentary In the Shadow of the Moon and my thoughts on the latest Hollywood remake of a J Horror classic The Eye. Despite the best efforts of Jessica Alba and some striking visuals, The Eye is a pointless, almost carbon copy of the Pang Brothers excellent original, that is derailed by a few ridiculous changes to the plot and some terrible narration. Where the Pang's film featured a sombre downbeat denouement that left the audience shattered after a massive calamity; the anodyne Hollywood happy ending that directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud have given us destroys any of the creepy effect that the film may have had. A shame as by all accounts their debut feature ILS is one to watch. Something was definitely lost in translation. Tune in to Eastside 89.7 FM at 6pm.

DVD liner notes

In a fun piece of news I’ll be providing the DVD liner notes for a couple of Samuel Arkoff classics from the Fifties..Reform School Girl and Sorority Girl. The films are being released by DVD label DV1 as part of their Dark Horse sub label and will be part of a collection of Arkoff’s film’s released by American international Pictures (A.I.P) More news as the project progresses and keep checking http://www.dv1.com.au/ for release dates.

The King of Kong

This Friday at 6pm I'll once again be gracing the airwaves on 89.7 for Eastside FM's Cinemascape. This week I'll be producing the show and reviewing one of my favourite films of the year so far The King of Kong. This David and Goliath tale to become the world's Donkey Kong champion has it all. The filmmakers must have been thanking the God's of the film world when they met the duo making battle to become the king of Donkey Kong. Billy Mitchell, the self proclaimed Video Game champion of the Universe, is the sort of character that documentaries are made for. An egotistical, arrogant megalomaniac with a penchant for BBQ sauce and voluminous hair do's is the antithesis of his competitor, Steve Weibe, the down on his luck family man who just wants to be good at something.
Mitchell on the other hand wants to be the King of the world. The supporting cast of arcade dwellers are a delightfully eccentric bunch and this clash of the video gaming titans has an hilarious effect on this retro clique who are more at at home playing Space Invaders and Pac-Man, than dealing with the real world. Whether you are an arcade junky or not; there is plenty to enjoy. The King of Kong, against the odds, is less a film about mustachioed Italian plumbers and pixelated monkeys and more a heartwarming story about the strength of the human spirit. Tune in to hear my review.

Priceless DVD Review

From the moment that the world set eyes on Audrey Tautou in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie they fell in love. Her elfin beauty led to further cute performances in the likes of A Very Long Engagement and The Spanish Apartment but she was always a little pixie rather than a vision of lust. That has all changed with Pascal Bonnet’s Priceless.

Tautou plays Irene a gold digger with her eyes on the wallets of the rich. She becomes a trophy on their arm in exchange for diamonds, dresses and a decadent life style. Whilst in a hotel bar she drunkenly mistakes barman and waiter Jean, a hilarious performance by The Valet’s Gad Elmaleh, for a millionaire playboy and he is quite content to perpetuate the deception and lure her into bed. Before you can say volia, the hapless Jean is head over heels in love and Irene is on the streets after her previous benefactor found out about her discretion with the barman and cancelled her credit cards. The pair both head to the French Riviera where Irene bleeds the besotted Jean dry and he is left to follow in Irene’s footsteps and becomes a plaything of a rich French businesswoman. As Irene tutors Jean into the dark ways of the gold digger and how to get the most from your partner; her previously hard veneer softens and she realises that she is falling in love with Jean.

The Breakfast at Tiffany's comparisons are spot on. Much like Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly; Tautou’s Irene is a beautiful and mischievous character that everyone can’t help but fall in love with but beneath the charm is a sad lonely sole who basically sells herself for money. This potentially sad tale is given a delightful French twist by a spot on script and fabulous performances from the two leads. You just can’t help but love with Irene, with the possible exception of the scenes when she pushes Jean to spend every Euro to his name.

Visually the film recalls Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief and shares that film’s eye for the rich and beautiful. Priceless is a frothy, light concoction that will melt most hearts. Perfectly cast, Elmaleh is a revelation and Tautou proves, once again, what a captivating actress she is. Let’s hope she stays in France to make more films like Priceless, she doesn’t need any more films like The Da Vinci Code blemishing her record.

Extras include the Making of Priceless, deleted scenes, behind the scenes footage and the original theatrical trailer.

DVD available at www.madman.com.au

We're Going to Need a Bigger Boat

Very sad to hear of the passing of actor Roy Scheider, the star of one of my favourite films Jaws, on February the 10th last week. He also put in fabulous performances in Marathon Man, Klute, Cronenberg's Naked Lunch, 2010 and was nominated for an Oscar for his work in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz. He also got to utter one of the greatest lines in modern cinema; he'll be sorely missed.

Happy New Year

The New Year has marked flourish of activity on the Cinemascape Show. I appeared on the end of year round up show and in recent weeks I have reviewed the Coen brother’s fabulous No Country for Old Men and Julie Delpi’s 2 Days in Paris. Next week I’ll be producing the show and reviewing Juno. One of my film's of 2008 already, Jason Reitman's tale of teenage pregnancy builds on the promise of his earlier effort Thank You For Smoking and gives us one of the finest teen films since The Breakfast Club! The cast is extraordinary; Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Gardner all give career bests. The dialogue is witty and sharp, even bringing in discussions on who is the best horror director? Dario Argento or Herschell Gordon Lewis! The script by Diablo Cody marks her as a talent to watch. Everything about the film is effortlessly cool, even though they tried really hard.

The team will also be discussing Cloverfield which I also loved. Despite its derivative premise and the laboured use of the discovered video tape motif this 'Blair Witch meets Godzilla meets The OC' is fantastic. Yes the cast are all far too good looking and that camera’s battery life is supercharged to say the least but when that monster strikes and Manhattan is under siege this is a truly astonishing cinematic experience. For a pure adrenaline rush Cloverfield cannot be beaten and despite the hand held, shaky imagery this film just has to be seen in a cinema with a massice screen and huge sound system. To hear full reviews tune in on Friday 25th of January at 6pm on 89.7 FM.

In magazine news the next issue of Smoke & Mirrors will feature some of the interviews conducted on the set of The Ruins last year including director Carter Smith and stars Joe Anderson, Jena Malone and Laura Ramsey. The magazine also includes a chat I had with Alex Wuttke; CG Supervisor on Roland Emmerich’s forthcoming 10,000BC. The issue will hit the shelves in March.

Issue #136 of Shivers features more of my coverage of the Australian horror comedy I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer and the next issue of Starburst will include my interview with director Jamie Blanks about his latest film Storm Warning.

Review of 2007

As we reach the end of 2007 I thought I’d look back at a few of my professional highlights.

I’ve been lucky enough to interview some amazing talent over the year; Jessica Alba and the cast of Fantastic Four, Willem Dafoe, Ethan Hawke, Franka Potente, Joe Anderson, Jena Malone, Claudia Karvan and director Jamie Blanks among many more have all made wonderful company. Set visit wise I’ve headed to Queensland to visit some amazing locations; in particular the beautiful mountain ranges of Carter Smith’s The Ruins. The filmmakers of Acolytes and Daybreakers both also made me extremely welcome and the film’s themselves show incredible promise so I’m very much looking forward to seeing those next year.

My ties with Shivers and Smoke & Mirrors magazines have gone from strength to strength and I still regularly contribute to Filmink and Film Review magazines aswell as reviewing DVDs for http://www.cinephilia.net.au/ and http://www.digital-retribution.com/. I’m particularly proud of my recent Danger Diabolik article in the wonderful Cinema Retro and my regular blog at http://www.frightfest.co.uk/.

I became a producer on Eastside 89.7FMs Cinemascape Show and have loved the challenge of putting the show together on a regular basis. The show has also put me in that wonderful position of seeing far too many movies this year.

Talking of which my top ten of the year is; in no particular order…..

No Country For Old Men
Pan’s Labyrinth
This is England
Eastern Promises
Priceless
Control
Black Sheep
Lucky Miles
Little Children
Death Proof

A special mention to Juno and The King of Kong which aren’t released down under until next year but will surely be in my top ten of 2008.

Anyway, that’s it for 2007 so Happy Christmas to everyone reading and see you in 2008!

Evel Knievel makes his last jump

Very sad to hear that Evel Knievel, the man who inspired the Seventies greatest toy has passed away. The death defying stuntman, renowned for his taste for adventure took motorcycle jumping to the masses; he tried to jump the Grand Canyon, headlined London’s Wembley Stadium and crashed into the fountains of Caesar’s Palace after flying 45 metres through the air. He broke almost every bone in his body, had 15 operations and starred in the motion picture Viva Knievel with Gene Kelly! Stars like Evel Knievel just don’t exist anymore, he’ll be missed. Here's some incredible footage of the great man's visit to Wembley.

Beowulf bears all

This Friday at 18:00 I’ll be producing Cinemascape on Eastside 89.7 FM. On the show this week we’ll be discussing Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Balls of Fury and I’ll be reviewing Beowulf. There is only one way to watch Robert Zemeckis’s latest excursion into performance capture animation and that’s in 3D at the IMAX. As a visual extravaganza it’s astonishing; as an engaging fantasy it’s a bit lacking but is does feature some unintentionally hilarious Austin Powers style placement of objects to hide the eponymous hero’s nether regions and Angelina Jolie as a naked water demon; what more could you ask for? To hear the rest of my thoughts, tune in later in the week

Rogue on the radio

This Friday I'll be producing the Cinemascape show on Eastside 89.7 FM at 6pm. The films being reviewed this week are David Slade's 30 Days on Night, Tell No One and I'll be passing judgment on Greg McLean's Rogue. Tune in if you're in Sydney!

Latest News

It’s been a busy few weeks so here’s a long overdue update…..
For any Sydneysiders listening you would have heard me produce last weeks Cinemascape show on Eastside 89.7 FM. I reviewed Anton Corbijn’s fabulous Control. This coming Friday I’ll be on the show again reviewing Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof. Most will know that Death Proof was Tarantino’s half of his failed double bill experiment with Robert Rodriguez Grindhouse and much has been said that this is a lesser work by the director but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed his petroleum fuelled schlock fest. A tribute to the films of Monte Hellman and the fleapits on 42nd Street, peppered with Tarantino’s trademark dialogue throughout; Death Proof, despite its failings, fits perfectly into the director’s oeuvre. Tune in at 18.00 to hear my review.

In the printed world, the last two issues of Shivers magazine have featured my work. Issue #134 includes my interview with Greg McLean about directing Rogue and Issue #135, the bumper Halloween issue, features my chat with Dave & Lou Elsey about creating the woolly terrors of Black Sheep. Both issues are available at http://www.visimag.com/. The December issue of Filmink will feature my interview with Franka Potente about her work in Richard Roxburgh’s Romulus, My Father. Finally the next issue of Smoke & Mirrors magazine will feature my interview with the makers of The Devil Dared Me To, the nearly semi true movie of New Zealand's most dangerous stuntman.

It's shaping up to be a busy time for major film’s shooting down under with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Justice League of America, Mad Max 4 and Underworld 3 all being announced. I’ll be endeavouring to cover the making of these films in the coming months so I’ll keep you posted on progress.

A Mighty Heart

I have a mixed past with director Michael Winterbottom; I loved 24 Party People but hated 9 Songs so it was with excitement and trepidation that I approached his first major studio film A Mighty Heart. Starring Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl, wife of kidnapped Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl; I'm happy to report that A Mighty Heart is an emotionally charged experience that holds the attention from beginning to end, despite the inevitability of their plight. Wonderful performances, combine with bravaura editing and location shooting in Karachi to produce a thrilling and moving look at the other side of the headlines. Listen to my thoughts on the film on Cinemascape tonight at 6pm on Eastside 89.7 FM.

Forbidden Lie$ on the radio

Later today, in about 15 minutes in fact! on Eastside 89.7 FM i'll be appearing on Cinemascape, the station's weekly show about the movies. This week I'll be passing judgement on Anna Broinowski's fabulous documentary Forbidden Lie$. The film attempts to discover the truth about the best selling book Forbidden Love and its author Norma Khouri. Whether fact or fiction, the film tries to uncover one of the biggest litary cons of this generation. If Khouri's best friend was murdered in an honour killing in Jordan or if her friend ever really existed. If you are reading this now and living in Sydney...tune in!