solace in cinema : A vast wasteland of movies

At the risk of sounding like one of those desperate, hyperbole-loaded quotes you read on film posters by media outlets you’ve never heard of (e.g. ‘Music and Lyrics’ is so funny I almost puked out my own ribcage - AZQL TV), I’m going to just going to come out and say it: Without a doubt Danny Boyle’s Sunshine is one of the greatest science-fiction films of the past few years. I’d rate it safely up there with my favourite film of last year, ‘Children of Men’, as the kind of intelligent, chilling and balls-to-the-wall thrilling kind of film that the majority mega-budget overblown sci-fi flicks dream of becoming.

An excellent cast with stand out performances from Cillian Murphy (’28 days later’, ‘Batman Begins’), Chris Evans (’Fantastic 4′, not old ginger nuts) and Cliff Curtis (’Once were warriors’) really helped to lift the already decent script above the usual hammy nonsense foisted upon these kinds of stories. To be honest the real stars of this particular show were the awesome production design and top-tier special/visual effects.

Some of the sets and shots of the exterior of the ship have to be seen to be believed. Like the work seen on ‘Children of Men’, the production team have excelled in creating a believable and gorgeously detailed world for the characters to exist in and the result is never less than perfect. What struck me most was the sheer scale and quality of the VFX and SFX, leaving the overall impression of a film 10 times Sunshine’s budget. It’s no exaggeration to say that the work on show here shames most of the effects that mega-bucks Hollywood sci-fi films churn out.

Another brilliant element of the film is the occasionally brooding, sometimes uplifting and always excellent soundtrack by Underworld and John Murphy (who’s score for Boyle’s ‘Millions’ I was a fan of). Some sequences, when coupled with the also excellent sound design have to be heard to be believed and one particular crescendo (you’ll know which) was seriously stunning when coupled with what you’re seeing on screen.

The last thing to say is this: Sunshine is on those films, like ‘300′, you simply HAVE to see on the big screen, preferably on the biggest, loudest one you can find. Trust me on this. There is no doubt it’s going to lose some of the impact if your first viewing is on the small screen (even if your ’smalll screen’ is a 60″ plasma). See it big and see it loud because I’ll be very surprised if Sunshine isn’t in my top 5 films of 2007.

Warp X is the low budget film division of warp music, that we’ve mentioned before. They have several interesting projects on the go including a film called ‘Donkey Punch’ written and directed by Olly Blackburn and co-written by David Bloom. The films plot seems to follow a group of friends on a “hedonistic” holiday in spain, and when drink, drugs, sex and sand in their crotches leads to an accidental death on a yacht…

“a carefree afternoon turns into a frantic fight for survival.”

The film started shooting in South Africa yesterday (March 19th) and stars Jaime Winstone (daughter of Ray… I wonder if he ever used the “I’M THE FUCKING DADDY NOW!!” line from ‘Scum’ on her?)

sounds interesting enough, but i’m more looking forward too the ‘death metal band trapped in backwoods’ film a guy called Dominic Hailstone is making for the ‘Warp X’ label.

via variety

And if you’re massively interested you might be able to take a peek at the script for ‘Donkey Punch’ on Olly Blackburn’s website (you need to email him to get the password)

I love it, why not make the log that he carried up the mountain on his shoulders in Rocky IV too? (I think it was Rocky IV…right?)

This particular “figure” is the side of beef that Rocky punched bloody in the first film. Mmmm…tenderized. Also includes a bloody smock

Any action figure that includes a ‘bloody smock’ is good value for money in my book. Apparently they’ve made an ‘Ivan Drago’ figure as well, but I can’t find a decent picture of it. I’d like to buy ‘The Meat’ and a ‘Drago’ figure and see which one had the more refined acting ability.

you can buy ‘The Meat’ from Toyrocket, I’m sure there’s some uk sites that sell it too… if not there’s always ebay!

I could have another whine about how the Hollywood system has no originality, about how this is a pointless remake and will probably make a little bit of cash and then sink without trace, just like all the Japanese horror remakes, and re-dos of 80’s horror films that have gone before it have done… but really… I’m past caring.

A company called ‘Fallout Entertainment’ (seems fitting) have obtained the rights to remake the classic blaxploitation film ‘Dolemite’ and is being pushed forward by producer Warren Zide (Final Destination, American Pie). The original film was based on a character created by Rudy Ray Moore and told the story of Dolemite a hustler and a pimp who uses his ‘Kung-Fu fighting girls’ to reclaim his nightclub when he’s released from prison.

I never liked ‘Shaft’ and always found Roundtree to be… well… boring, especially when you put him up next to characters like ‘Dolemite’, ‘The Mack’ or ‘Super Fly’. but honestly how can they make these films now? they were a product of the 70’s and I’m pretty certain pimps don’t drive around in massive chrome Rolls Royce’s and dress in leopard skin suits any more… if they ever did. The films were exploitation and glorified pimps, prostitution and hard drugs.. really how are they going to bring that back to the box office? … I’d like to see it… but I can’t see it making it past the censors.

Admittedly ‘Dolemite’ was more about ‘the man’ keeping him down, cops planting drugs on him, reclaiming his nightclub and half naked women doing kung-fu so maybe they can get rid of certain elements and do it in a weird ‘Starksy and Hutch’ way…who knows…

The only real feeling I had after reading this story was that I wanted to go and watch the original again…

“dance honkies!.. dance!”

read the original story over at the hollywood reporter

How do you build an instant internet audience for your mediocre pop band? … simple.. reunite the still living cast members from ‘The Karate Kid’ and make a video for a song you’ve written entitled ‘Sweep the Leg’…

Throw in some references to ‘Raising Arizona’… and make every other line of the song a direct reference to ‘The karate Kid’… Ker-Blammo!… you’re famous on the internet.

Johnny(William Zabka) looks exactly the same, but Bobby (Ron Thomas) AKA “yeahh get him a body bag!!” looks like he’s learnt about male-pattern baldness the hard way.

sweeptheleg.com

via digg.com

OK, they’re vague, I realise that, but it’s cool to see a little bit of the set (Cape Town Town Hall, and some tombstones) from the new Neil Marshall Film ‘Doomsday’…

Great Britain, 2007. A deadly plague, known as the “Reaper Virus,” has broken out, killing hundreds of thousands in its wake. In desperation, the British Government evacuates as many survivors as it can out of the infected area, and then builds a wall, preventing the remainder from escaping. Thirty years later, with the wall still up and the victims all but forgotten, the virus breaks out again. The Government decides to send a crack team of operatives, led by Major Eden Sinclair, into the hot zone to investigate the possibility of a cure.

See a couple more photos of the set and some armoured personal carriers in flxy’s flickr stream here

and there’s some photos of roadside graveyards (also part of the Dommsday set) in Bug-E’s flickr stream here

god bless citizen journalism

Despite looking like it Neil Gaiman says it’s not a trailer.. hence the odd use of music, and dodgy looking cgi…

“it’s not an actual trailer, and it seems to be a bunch of shots cobbled together from unfinished CGI footage and has some Pirates of the Caribbean music on it, and I’m not sure who did it or for what”

There’s a little script review we did not long ago here

via slashfilm and Neil Gaimans site

According to Variety when Neil Marshall is finished up on ‘Doomsday’ he’s going to be working on ‘Sherlock Holmes’ an adaptation of a new comic book from producer Lionel Wigram. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s hero has made frequent trips to the big screen before but it’s been a good while since we had anything of note. Supposedly Wigram’s book has altered the Holmes personality slightly to be less crime-solving drug addict, and more crime-solving face-puncher which sounds pretty cool to me…

Wigram’s vision has Holmes losing some of his Victorian stuffiness and being more adventuresome, including playing up his skills as a bare-knuckle boxer and expert swordsman as he goes about solving crimes.

I was still hoping Marshall might go back to working on his zombies-on-an-oil-rig film ‘Outpost’, but honestly i’m happy to hear about anything he has in the pipeline.

You can read the original story over at Variety here

*the picture of Nimoy as Holmes has nothing to do with anything… I just thought it was funny

Honestly I’ll watch anything with Philip Seymour Hoffman in it, I think the guys incredible. ‘MI3′: the coldest ’shark eyes’ acting i’ve ever seen, ‘Punch-Drunk Love’: the best homicidal mattress-salesman acting i’ve ever seen, and plays fat lonely depressed-looking dudes better than anyone.

This feels a lot like ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, which I’m sure is a concious decision on the part of the film makers… but I won’t hold that against them.

Check out the trailer here (weird msn player.. might not behave on a mac)

via FilmJunk