December 31, 2009 – 1:04 pm
The Lovely Bones has been heralded by some as Peter Jackson’s return to the realm of small, harrowing personal stories explored in his magnificently shocking 1994 film Heavenly Creatures. But the hoof prints of big budget Hollywood moviemaking are stamped all through it – from the miscasting of Mark Wahlberg as a bereaved father, to [...]
December 29, 2009 – 8:07 pm
John Keats was a penniless poet who died young, believing he was a failure, but lived on posthumously as an iconic literary figure widely regarded as one of the great romantic writers. It is fitting, then, that Jane Campion’s Bright Star, a biopic of Keats’s later years and in particular his relationship with lover Fanny [...]
December 28, 2009 – 3:46 pm
Another year ends, another tsunami of best of lists floods the net. There are a couple of rarely uttered truths associated with this process that readers ought to be aware of, so consider this, if you like, a kind of public service announcement. If that’s too much of a stretch, consider it a longwinded rant [...]
December 24, 2009 – 9:45 am
You’ve gotta hand it to Hugh Grant. That sleazy, floundering Englishman manages to achieve what appears to be the excruciatingly onerous objective of staying awake throughout Did You Hear About the Morgans?, his puffy, exasperated red eyes telling a thousand stories – each about how he shoulda hit the snooze button and stayed in bed. [...]
December 23, 2009 – 11:43 am
In yesterday’s Crikey newsletter I contributed a story discussing 20 of the biggest movies set to be released in 2010. To read it you have to be a Crikey subscriber, which includes access to all back issues. Click here (https://www.crikey.com.au/Accounts/FreeTrial.aspx ) to register for a free three week trial. To tide you over, here is [...]
December 22, 2009 – 7:58 am
Robert Downey Jr. moves into 221b Baker Street and makes himself at home – quaffing sherry, waxing deductive, plucking violin strings, verbally jousting with his homey Dr Watson and generally kitting up Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic literary detective with new found cool in Sherlock Holmes, the latest snazzy action pic from British director Guy “Lock [...]
December 18, 2009 – 7:49 am
On the publicity circuit for his new film The Lovely Bones (released Boxing Day) blockbuster director Peter Jackson, best known for his acclaimed Lord of the Rings adaptations, discussed entering the war picture genre with his own take on Gallipoli – to be released in time for the infamous WWI campaign’s 100th anniversary. “We are [...]
December 16, 2009 – 7:51 am
If Hollywood has a tendency to sexually objectify young women, what about its new found tendency to sexually objectify singing chipmunks? Shouldn’t somebody be speaking out against this? Where are you, Christian lobby groups? Where are you, animal rights advocates? Where are you, um, Chipmunk Appreciation Society? In Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel our [...]
December 14, 2009 – 12:21 pm
On the weekend the Australian Film Institute distributed its annual AFI Awards, capping off a bumper year for Australian cinema. The big winner was writer/director Warwick Thornton’s magnificent Samson & Delilah, which snagged seven awards including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Sound. Robert Connolly’s taut wartime exposé Balibo followed [...]
December 12, 2009 – 2:22 pm
After ripping the film industry a new one with Titanic in 1997 and thus snaring a modest accolade commonly known as the most successful movie of all time mega-minded director James Cameron retreated to the cavernous lairs of computer labs and editing suites where legend has it – his films are so big, you see, [...]
December 10, 2009 – 4:26 pm
As a teenager John Lennon was a hot-headed delinquent who incessantly drank and smoke, pilfered records, head butted his friends, flashed his willy and looked like a buff Calvin Klein model thirsty for a protein shake. At least that’s how he was according to director Sam Taylor Wood’s bold biopic Nowhere Boy, which presents a [...]
December 9, 2009 – 7:55 am
The impending release of Disney’s upcoming animated feature The Princess and the Frog, an update of a Brothers Grimm fairytale, is more significant than your average Big Mouse family flick for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it marks the studio’s return to traditional hand drawn animation – the first of its kind since ___. Secondly, [...]
December 8, 2009 – 7:38 am
Last month in the Crikey newsletter I wrote about about a range of innovative online marketing strategies that have been used to promote Paranormal Activity and the subsequent, super-sized success the film has generated in America. Director Oren Peli’s faux home video spookfest has emerged as the first nano-budget blockbuster since The Blair Witch Project in [...]
December 7, 2009 – 6:09 pm
Woody Harrelson bursts into the zombie genre with full tilt glower power and a hell for leather bad attitood in this screwy throwaway post mod zom-com from director Ruben Fleischer, who tries very hard to be fun and edgy but settles on a level of storytelling innovation not much more alive than your average zombie’s [...]
December 6, 2009 – 2:03 pm
This week four stills emerged from the set of The Karate Kid remake, which stars 11-year-old Jaden Smith in the titular role and Jackie Chan as Mr. Han, a reworked version of ol’ wax on wax off himself – Mr. Miyagi. Will Smith is executive producer, which may give intelligent readers a clue as to [...]
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