Birmingham Post - Lifestyle Blog

Is Oscar afraid of The Dark Knight?

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:19:59 +0000

Well the Oscar nominations are in and though they have shown a small level of risk in the nominations for best film, once again the Academy have shown a total lack of imagination and buried their heads in the sand when it comes to the field of fantasy and commercial success.
The Dark Knight is not mentioned in the categories of best picture and best director. The film is a stunning piece of film making and whether or not you liked the film or refused to get sucked into the hype surrounding it. It is a brilliantly made film, if Christian Bale's over blown Dirty Harry voice impression got on your nerves, its still a brilliantly made film, if the film was over shadowed by the untimely death of Heath Ledger, it is still a brilliantly made film. But the academy has chosen to over look this fact, Nolan should have been nominated for best director, there is a question mark over whether he would have won, but he should have been at least nominated.
Now this is may be just my opinion, but I have seen all but one of the films nominated as best picture and Nolan should have been among the list of directors up for the prize. It as a piece of work is stunningly well made, all of the reviews referring to the film have praised the level and skill of the direction and for many critics and audiences alike, it was regarded as one of the best films of the year, so why does the academy choose to ignore what so many see as obvious.
Now the current favourite to win best picture is the Brit flick Slumdog Millionaire, which I think is a fantastic film, it's full of everything that I like about film making, a good narrative, strong performances, witty and intelligent direction and a sense of originality that is lacking in most of your standard Hollywood fodder. Danny Boyle is without doubt one of the most talented directors around when he is left to his own devices, from he first burst onto the scene with Shallow Grave, he has shown that he knows how to communicate with the audience in a way that will engage and entertain, he then moved onto what I consider one of the best British films I have seen Trainspotting, original, funny, shocking and still brilliant, the only thing wrong with the film is that it put the director onto the radar of some of the big film studios, now for some there is no down side to that, but with the big investment comes big involvement, and the next couple of films A Life Less Ordinary and The Beach show a lack of Danny Boyle in the end product, they compromise on the dark side of humanity and a flair for depicting what exists in all of us in favour of a more straight forward approach to story telling and the results are there for all to see.
I have to say that I think that Slumdog Millionaire is a real return to form for the director and the leads in the film are just great, I had the pleasure of meeting two of the stars of the film at a special premiere screening of the film that took place at the Odeon Birmingham a couple of weeks ago and both Dev Patel and Anil Kapoor were both funny, entertaining and very humble about the success of the film.
For one of the biggest stars in the world of Bollywood Anil Kapoor shocked me by being nervous about the reaction of the audience to his film, this is a man behind some of the biggest Bollywood films and he stood there in a corridor physically nervous about his film, it gave him a really human quality and though his role in the film doesn't require him to really bond with the audience or to have them siding with him, it made me think that he was a nice guy, there were no photographers around, no screaming fans, just me, him and an event manager, it was actually really refreshing to see him ask one of the people involved in publicising the film to wait while we finished our conversation. Dev Patel on the other hand was full of wonder and instead of the audience being star struck, he was blown away by the level of attention he was getting, he quite simply had no clue as to how the audiences had bought into the film and how successful the film had been in terms of winning awards, at the time the film had won 63 awards from New York to Florida, Chicago to Berlin including a number for himself as best newcomer, Now do I think Dev will win best actor over Mickey Rourke or Frank Langella, no I don't, but I think his performance is great and perfectly and in line with the quality of the film, Is it a good leading actor performance, but its not a show stopping performance like that of the lead character in The Wrestler, which is probably the best performance as a leading man in contention for an award, but the performance of Dev Patel should not be overlooked, it is fresh, naive and ultimately perfect for the film and it would be criminal if he didn't get the recognition he deserves on this side of the pond as well as the rest of the world.
Which is exactly what should have happened to The Dark Knight and Christopher Nolan, maybe he should have played it safe and made an epic, historical, biopic which based on the security blanket the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wraps itself in would have been guaranteed to take home the big prizes.

Coming to a cinema near you...

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:08:26 +0000

Personally I loved the Sex and the City movie, I thought it was a great mix of comedy and heartache with enough fashion to keep everyone happy, but I appreciate the mixed reviews and do feel they played it safe, if a little forced and silly. But that is beside the point because I don't know any woman who hasn't been, or will soon go, to see it. It's created a certain presence in theatres...

Even while at the bus stop on Friday night there were crowds of girls and women in strapless dresses and stilettos with coiffed hair and bright lipstick; this isn't just a film, it's an event! Cocktail bars surrounding the cinema complex were stuffed with Cosmopolitan clasping ladies and many dabbed their eyes once leaving the theatre and swanned back into the bar.

The show's main pull was the fashion and it's almost a treat to dress up to the nines and make a true girls-night-out of going, leading to a box office smash. I know many people who have gone even before ever seeing a single episode. It may be an aspiration to be as constantly glamorous as the characters or an ode to the show's style admiration. I find groups of office girls more intimidating than a crew of hoodies so if you're planning on catching the new Indiana Jones flick, be prepared for hoards of females in their best, it's quite a sight to see!

Indiana Jones and the theatre of expectation

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:49:43 +0000

I'm guessing by now a lot of you will have seen the new Indiana Jones movie, well what did you think, was it worth the wait, did it live up to the media frenzy that has surrounded the release?
I have spent a couple of days thinking about the difference between hype and expectation, I tend not to do hype but expectation is another matter, its not about a series of leaked press stories and some carefully choreographed publicity stunts, it shouldn't be about what some clever marketing executive dreams up to make up for the failings of the product they are trying to sell.

I remember standing outside the ABC cinema on Bristol road waiting for the doors to open so I could see what I still regard as one of the best films I have seen, Raiders of the Lost Ark, I waited hours and was by far the youngest person in the queue there by themselves, but I had read about this film, I had dreamed about this film, I had the poster on my wall, for me it was vital that I see this film the first day that I could.
I am now much older, and I do mean much older but I'm not sure if that accounts for the changes in the way I think about films and how desperate I am to see them at the first opportunity, but there was something about this film that I wanted to see, if not the first night, then pretty soon afterward, maybe it was memories of how I felt about the first film, that sense of childhood wonder, the expectation and ultimately the sense of fulfilment coming out of the cinema and seeing huge queues about to see a film that blew my mind, a queue that I so wanted to join.

Now I don't intend to write a review of the film but after seeing it the first thing I did when I got home was to put on the dvd of the first film and see how it should be done. Now don't get me wrong its not a bad film, I just expected more, I wanted more, I wanted that sense of awe, I wanted to be on the edge of my seat, I wanted to hold my breath and not realise I was doing so.
The new film feels safe, it feels like a product rather than an experience, it has all the action set pieces, just not the excitement, there is danger but no real sense of tension or peril and that's what I missed.

This is one of the most highly anticipated films of the year, we have been reading about this film on an almost weekly basis for the last 12 months, speculation has been rife about the plot, the cast, the hair colour of the leading actor, who is in it and who is not in it. Indiana Jones and the curse of the crystal skull has been dominating the websites and the movie gossip columns, and it is set to dominate on a global scale, but will it dominate the hearts and minds of the audiences with the same level of passion that started the franchise almost three decades ago. I suspect that a new audience will love it, but if you know, I mean really know the first film and everything that made it what it is, I don't think 'love it' will be the phrase that you will be using, but that is up to the unstoppable Dr Jones to prove me wrong.

It's 21 storeys high and it's made of concrete

Wed, 21 May 2008 10:22:58 +0000

Kenneth Wolstenholme is best remembered for uttering "they think it's all over", but the line he intended for 1966 immortality was one he'd practised: "it's twelve inches high, it's made of solid gold and it means that England are World Champions". He'd never get away with it now, as a nation our minds are far too dirty, but that's not my point. A year earlier when The Rotunda was completed, that wouldn't really turn out how architect James Roberts intended either, but for Brummies it became something just as iconic.

Yesterday I attended a screening of Nic Gaunt's film 'Rotunda: 21 Stories', a film ostensibly about the building that stands, er, 21 storeys tall at the bottom of New Street. But, while the film radiates from the Rotunda at its central core, it pushes far beyond that to be a film about identity, family, and how the built environment can help shape the way we feel.

Apart from possibly being the cinematic work that contains the word "round" most often, the film takes time to talk about how Birmingham has been shaped by its architecture and by using only the voices of Brummies and those involved in the building means that it's thankfully free of theories, instead focusing on emotion.

The 21 stories range from the base and James Roberts, with tales of how the building grew taller almost on a whim, to the top, restoration, and a young carpenter who's too scared to work alone in the basement. In between are a host of people talking about, confessing almost, their relationship with a huge pile of concrete and glass and by extension their lives.

There May Be Trouble Ahead.

Mon, 12 May 2008 22:25:15 +0000

You know sometimes when you look at a film and on paper it looks like it could be fantastic, the right director, the right sort of budget and something that says to you this could be something quite special, but then when you look at it in the cold harsh reality of the commercial world and you realise that this film could have got it wrong and not just a little bit.
I will hold my hands up and say that I haven't seen Speed Racer yet, I will probably see it within the next few days, but I think that in a market place filled with block busters like Iron Man, Sex in the City, Batman: The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Prince Caspian and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
The two films that have me worried are The Incredible Hulk and Speed Racer.

Sex Sells.

Sat, 10 May 2008 12:08:01 +0000

Here we go again, another celebrity sex tape hits the internet, this time featuring Sex in the city star Kirsten Davis who plays the very prim and proper Charlotte in the hit TV series is alleged to feature in a sex tape that has had a number of images leaked onto the internet.
Most of the Internet movie and entertainment sites have some reference to the tape over the last couple of weeks. The tape is supposed to be very graphic, but whatever its content the publicity around it will be crazy over the next few weeks.
The agents for the star have put out a very firm denial that the tape has no connection with the star, but other sources say that it came from a former partner, where ever it came from people are talking about it.

Indie-gestion

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 07:00:07 +0000

What with various ailments of family members keeping me close to base this week, it's been time to catch up on some films.

A strange phenomenon has emerged from my DVD sessions. I seem to be watching more and more films which, in theory, are interesting, quirky and out of the ordinary, in other words, worthy of the attentions of a cultural commentator.

They turn out to be well crafted but ultimately annoying because the narrative just doesn't ring true. They seem to be coming out of some film factory specialising in interesting, quirky and out of the ordinary movies. They are simply trying too hard. Which ends up as plain trying.

Let's cut to the chase. The trio of movies watched in a row which brought me to this frustrating conclusion were Hallam Foe, Brick Lane and Edmond. The first two are based on books, the third is a version of a David Mamet stage play.

The really annoying thing is that all of them feature terrific performances - from Jamie Bell (above), Tannistha Chatterjee (above) and Satish Kaushik and William H Macy respectively. Writers and directors seem to be letting down indie film audiences while the actors are giving us a reason to watch.

Notes on a Scandal is another example which springs to mind. I want to see great movies, not just great performances.

Am I being unreasonable? Anyone agree with me?

Why Brum needs a Woody Allen

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:00:00 +0000

All but his most hardened fans may have given up waiting for a return to his "funny ones", but no-one mythologises a city like Woody. If you take a trip to New York there's a scene from a film at every intersection, but it's Woody's Manhattan that uses the city as a character, the narration making it okay to be "too romantic" about what's really just some bricks and some people.

London is casually used as a backdrop and there now seems to be a whole industry in making films about late seventies Manchester, but not it seems Birmingham.

Supposed worst film ever The Sex Lives of the Potato Men was set, but not filmed, in Brum, Cliff Richard sang and bargee-d around the canals in Take Me High, but these are not the stuff myths are made of. The closest we come to a classic is The Italian Job, the drain the Minis race down is actually the Birmingham-Coventry Tithebarn main sewer and even that was up the Coventry end.

Why the Oscars would never have been cancelled

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:35:35 +0000

Did anyone really think that the Oscars would not go ahead this year? I mean really, really think that the event would not happen?
Let me run an idea by you, take one of the biggest, flashiest, money orientated industries, give them a six hour advert broadcast to tens of millions around the world, media domination for weeks before and days after, millions of dollars added to the box office take of the winners.
Now ask yourself does this sound like something that Hollywood would pass up?

The writer's strike may have cast a giant shadow over all of the arrangements for the biggest show of the awards season, but was it ever really in doubt? All of the industry knew that if you cancelled every awards show from the golden globes to the best actor in your local primary school play, the Oscars had to go ahead.
The significance of the Oscars ceremony cannot be down played, its importance to the US movie industry both trade and consumer, love it or hate it, it's something that we cannot get away from, everyday the latest twists and turns in the dispute were headline news, actors boycotted, shows were cancelled, pundits expressed concerns and the public lapped it up.

A top ten, from a man who knows his films:

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:14:30 +0000

My name is Michael and I love films.

I live and work in Birmingham and make my living, managing a cinema. I have a passion for words, books and narrative: give me a film that can tell a good story and I am happy. I am inspired by people and imagination and really have no time for fools no matter who they think they are.