With no word crunch, Lost in the Multiplex’s writers speak their mind and vent their spleens. You’re where you want to be if you’re after movie articles, stories and interviews. Dig in.
This year is Charles Dickens' bicentennial and as one of the stalwarts of English literature, there have been numerous books, adaptations and documentaries celebrating the life and work of one of our favourite British institutions over the past few months. His novels have been a staple of our period-drama loving culture for decades and in amongst all the cobbled streets, fog-ridden scenery and extensive costume departments, there's something that we audiences can't get enough of.
With The Avengers dominating the box office around the globe, on the eve of its North American release, here is a look at my dream superhero team-up movies.
We have a number of brilliant first trailers this week, including a couple from Jason Segel’s latest comedies, John Hilcoat’s western drama Lawless, the full trailer for David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis and also a few more light-hearted films that give a great mix up of what can expect to see in cinemas over the next few months.
This week’s double feature takes in a couple of classic movies starring two of Hollywood’s true greats. Paul Newman began his movie career back in 1954 with his debut in The Silver Chalice and went on to star in some truly iconic movies. Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Color of Money (1986) and Road to Perdition (2002) to name but a few. One of the finest actors of his generation, he oozed effortless and easy charm and his charisma shone through in every part he played.
On September 3rd (or mid-August if you're a lucky American), Universal will release a special blu-ray edition of Steven Spielberg's seafaring masterpiece Jaws, complete with a full high-definition restoration from the original camera negative, a 7.1 surround soundtrack, and an Orca-full of extras including the excellent and exhaustive documentary The Shark Is Still Working. It will also include the original mono soundtrack. For some, this begs the question - what is mono?
Last week saw the release of Battleship, Peter Berg's Bay-esque explosion extravaganza based on the Hasbro board game of the same name. With that in mind, I decided that this week's Multiplex Goes Retro will be looking at the original film based on a board game, 1985's Clue, named after the US version of Cluedo. I first caught Clue on one of those late night channel-hopping quests and it seemed like a fairly decent comedy but, as I only watched half an hour the first time round, now seems like a perfect time to revisit it.
This week’s double header takes us on a trip down memory lane as we take in two childhood movies (assuming you are of a certain age) that are driven by a youthful sense of adventure. Somehow, whenever you had your own mini-adventures in the summer holidays they were never quite as eventful as the ones experienced by the kids in these two films. Whenever we did get on our bikes and head off into a wood or down the abandoned railway line, not once did we find a dead body or find an old pirate ship chock full of gold. Granted the pirate ship would have been pretty unlikely in landlocked Staffordshire, but there we go.
There are plenty of great childhood movies to choose from here but the two I’ve plumped for are both absolute classics. They both hark back to those carefree days long before the drudgery of work and the responsibilities of adulthood. First up is a Rob Reiner classic about four friends who set off into the Oregon countryside on the hunt for a missing local boy who is presumed dead after being hit by a train. Along the way they begin to open up to each about their own hopes for the future. It’s the ultimate coming-of-age tale Stand by Me. Next it’s a slightly more light-hearted affair which sees a group of friends setting out to find a dead pirate’s treasure in order to stop their neighbourhood being sold to the local country club. It’s the great childhood adventure movie The Goonies.
Released in 1986 and 1985 respectively, these two films both became staple VHS viewings for a whole generation of us and are still much loved today.
Okay, so I'm a couple of weeks late with this column, but to make it up to all you loyal readers (cough), please kindly accept this monster-sized edition. No, not in the Fassbender sense. Perverts...
