solace in cinema : A vast wasteland of movies

sweet. Also on a similar note, Michael Bay has addressed the ‘fanboy issue’ …. why does Optimus Prime have lips? (see what i’m talking about here)

“The unreleased ad (Prime speaks) that was posted on youtube was a test that European were making with the ads. The clip where OP was “speaking,” lets just say that it wasn’t OP or Cullen speaking. It was something the European studios added on their own. In fact, it was a test shot.”

Lips… eyebrows… genitalia… whatever, as long as they have the ‘You got the touch‘ song in it, I don’t care.

poster via impawards, bay news via slashfilm

A little video has appeared via Phamousfotos showing Downey Jnr getting out of some fancy-pants car all dressed up as Tony Stark. I’m getting more interested in the ‘Iron Man’ movie and think it could be a big hit and might sneak up on a lot of audiences.

Jon Favreau is a interesting choice of directors, and I was a bit wary when I first heard about it, but then I guess it’s no weirder than letting Sam Raimi loose on the Spider-man series and that paid off big time. So Favreau plus the always awesome Downey Jnr… I think I might need to start reading some Iron Man comics to prepare myself.

Based on the long-running Marvel comic book series, Iron Man tells the story of Tony Stark, the enigmatic heir to the Stark Enterprises fortune. A driven inventor and executive who seems to have it all, Tony is haunted by his dark side. Though he commands his empire by day, by night he secretly becomes “Iron Man,” the living embodiment of decades of defense spending and innovation. Strapping on billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art armor and weaponry each night to fight crime, terrorism and corporate espionage, Tony begins to crack under the strain of his fractured lifestyle and must ultimately confront the one enemy he can never beat — himself.

The film is slated for release May 2008, you can sign up for updates at the official site here

Check out the video of Downey Jnr pimping it up as Tony Stark here

Video via screenrant

Something I learnt when I was very little was that no matter how much you want it to be good, certain things are just destined to always be a shit sandwich. AVP was terrible, and I lost any hope of a new good Alien or Predator film coming out a long time ago. Anyway with that in mind, a couple of stills from ‘Alien Vs Predator: Survival of the Fittest’ cropped up via designstudio press.

**deep exhalation of breath**

“What’s got Billy so spooked??”…. “GET TO DEE CHOPPPPERRRR!!!!”….

going to watch the first predator, tap some phone lines McTiernan style and carve Riddleygrams into my arm

Ok so I stopped taking entries for the Old Joy competition yesterday at midnight. The answer to the question “What is Will Oldhams stage name?”.. the answer is of course Bonnie Prince Billy, and here’s the 3 names that I drew out of a very fancy sugar bowl.

- Rob Pontefract
- Nik Riviera
- Matthew Keane

The above people will soon be in possession of the awesome ‘Old Joy’ poster and the dvd…

happy days

I was going to see ‘Sunshine’ last night, but fate intervened and I ended up seeing (from what I understand) a film that could not be much more different, ‘The Lives Of Others’, and I have to say that I’m pleased that things turned out as they did.

Set amidst the backdrop of the German Democratic Republic, the film tells the story of Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe), a surveillance and interrogation expert and member of The Stasi (the GDR’s secret police). Weisler has been tasked with spying on one of East Germany’s most celebrated writers, George Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), and his actress girlfriend, Christa-Maria Seiland (Martina Gedeck), as certain members of the government believe that he may be developing sympathies with the West.

As East German protocol dictated in these situations, Weissler has every room in Dreyman and Seiland’s apartment bugged, and from the attic of their building observes and listens in to everything they do. However, unexpectedly the more Weisler is exposed to the lives of Dreyman and Seiland, the more he begins to question the regime for which he has sacrificed the best part of his life.

The story is involving, and at times gripping, but the direction and ambience created by first time writer director Florial Henckel von Donnersmark, is also remarkably assured. I thankfully have no experience of East Germany in the 80s, but the muted colours, empty streets and understated direction conjure up exactly what I imagined it would look and feel like. Von Donnersmark creates a real sense of claustrophobia, the only real relief from which is Dreyman and Seiland’s apartment, which is in stark contrast to Weisler’s own.

Stylistically and metaphorically, a comparison of the two apartments seems to tell us as much about the differences between East and West as it does about the film’s characters.

Dreyman and Seiland’s apartment is very much symbolic of the West. It is an open and welcoming environment, full literature and art. It is a human place where love, and perhaps more importantly for those times, ideas can flourish. In comparison, Weisler’s typical East German dwelling is cold, regimented and loveless. Only Republican posters bring any colour to the walls, and it is telling that he almost begs the prostitute he summons to his building to stay with him after sex, as he begins to yearn for the human contact he has been exposed to through his work. It is only when Weisler is reading work by Brecht that he has stolen from Dreyman, that some light and life appears to seep into his apartment.

One of the first things I ever posted on Solace was a review of ‘A History of Violence’, not written by me, but rather one of my friends that I had shown the film too thinking he would like it.. and he hated it. You win some you loose some. Me personally I really liked the film and still think it’s great, I think David Cronenberg is a great director and rarely disappoints me. Even when he makes a film that falls short of my expectations, he’s always… always.. an interesting filmaker.

Cronenberg’s next film is ‘Eastern Promises’ filmed right here in London, and this is the first still from the film (via IONcinema)

Eastern Promises follows the mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), who is tied to one of London’s most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is jarred when he crosses paths with Anna (Naomi Watts), an innocent midwife trying to right a wrong, who accidentally uncovers potential evidence again the family. Now Nikolai must put into motion a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution.

I can’t wait for ‘Eastern Promises’ and am looking forward to seeing Viggo under Cronenberg’s direction again.

Naomi Watts has been busy too, what with this and the remake of Haneke’s ‘Funny Games’ which is currently in post production. You can check out a still from that over at Ioncinema here.

Superherohype have scored what seems to be the first shots of Heath Ledger as ‘The Joker’ in The Dark Knight. So it seems his costume might be slightly closer to the comic versions after all, seems like he’s rocking the green hair and white make-up… if it is Heath Ledger that is…

Check the rest of the photos of the supposed clown prince of crime, including some creepy clown heads here

When I use a title like that for a blog post, I really should explain myself. I dig Alec Baldwin, and only when he’s being a total asshole; Glengarry Glen Ross, The Departed and even .. 30 Rock..

‘Brooklyn Rules’ is a new goodfellas-esque gangster film starring the man himself as a mob boss, Scott Caan… and **whispers** freddie prinze Jr **, and looks like it might not be too shabby. I’m not quite sure if you’re going to be asked to sympathise with ‘the Prinze’, becuase really I’d rather see him get pistol whipped, but still…

Set in Brooklyn circa 1985 against the backdrop of John Gotti’s rise to Mafia power, “Brooklyn Rules” is a powerful story revolving around three lifelong friends whose different ambitions threaten to shake their enduring bond. Starring Alec Baldwin, Freddie Prinze Jr, Mena Suvari, Scott Caan and Jerry Ferrara, “Brooklyn Rules” comes down to the choices faced by these young men when the right path is not always the easiest to follow, and when being a loyal friend can mean making the ultimate sacrifice.

Check out the trailer on their official site here

There’s also some stills in our flickr account here

via film junk

There was no way I was going to be able to get through a post about a new heist movie without referencing ‘Heat’, so I though fuck it, use a still.. and a vague pun in the title… that’s just how crazeeee I am.

Nimrod Antal is the director of a great Hungarian film called ‘Kontroll’ and has his new film ‘Vacancy’ is about to drop into US cinemas tomorrow (Friday the 20th of April). As is the way, before anyone can pass judgement it’s best to line up a new project… and the word is the Antal will be starting work on a heist movie written by James V. Simpson called ‘Armoured’. The script was picked up by Screen Gems back in October and they’ve been shopping for a director since. Hopefully they saw something special in Antal, and maybe they got a look at ‘Vacancy’…

‘Armoured’ is the story of a young armoured car driver that is talked into ripping off his $10 Million haul by his veteran colleagues.

I’m a total sucker for heist movies, largely of the David Mamet variety.. but I even quite like ‘Confidence’.. it’s not something I’m proud of…

More news on this as it surfaces…

via Hollywood reporter

As with most things batman related at the moment this is just a rumour, but Batman-on-film has heard rumblings about Heath Ledgers ‘Look’ as the Joker, and this from ign..

Ledger’s Joker “will have grey skin with lots of scarring.”

Furthermore, Joker will reportedly wear “raggedy” garb, which jives with earlier rumors that his outfit will be more like something he’s thrown together than a costume per se.

I can’t tell as yet if this has the fanboys raging or not, I for one think it sounds great, a Nicholson-style joker prancing around with a purple suit on and too much make-up just wouldn’t fit with the almost-real-world tone that Christopher Nolan has been setting up. Scarred and scary sounds like the way to go.

‘The Dark Knight’ is currently filming in Chicago, but the production is soon set to shift over here to London, so fingers crossed I might stumble across them filming… or at least someone on flickr might. Over in the windy city the ‘Fighting the suburbs‘ blog has grabbed some stills of the crew at work on the film, and while they aren’t exactly enough to get your blood pumping (a lot of photos of big lights outside a bank) its nice to see the production moving along.

Check out the ‘Gotham National Bank’ photos here

and some more here