Everything must go was written and directed by Dan Rush, adapted from Raymond Carver’s short story ‘Why Don’t You Dance?’ It's Rush’s first shot at directing a feature and it’s impressive that he’s secured such a high profile Hollywood star in Ferrell. It’s a deliberately paced movie and a pleasant change from the star's zanier outings. It is certainly no Anchor Man, Elf or Step Brothers and even though it’s marketed as a drama/comedy, there aren’t many laughs. It also stars Rebecca Hall as the concerned pregnant neighbour and Christopher CJ Wallace (Notorious B.I.G’s son) as the kid who helps him get his life back on track.
Whilst reading a Guardian article on the UK’s weekend box office, a statement which tells you most of what you need to know about me, I found the following:
Landing in 20th place is Paddy Considine's critically lauded Tyrannosaur…. Segments of even the most discerning arthouse audience will resist a tough drama featuring domestic abuse. Owen Wilson (in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris) meeting literary and artistic heroes in a prettily photographed Paris was always going to be an easier sell.
Well not for this discerning arthouse audience man! I would rather watch Johnny English Reborn than sit through another 90 minutes of Woody Allen lusting over a chocolate box version of a city and a culture to which he has no relation, no understanding, not even a curiosity to understand beyond an onanistic glossy postcard in to which he can insert a chiseled version of himself to chase after ladies of an inappropriate age.
The production of Johnny Depp's Lone Ranger adaptation has been the stage of a battle between Disney and reckless over-spending, and it seems the battle has finally been won. I'm just unsure who the victor is supposed to be, when the budget is announced at a "tighter" $215 million to make a cowboy movie.
The IMDb page for Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained continues to become one of the more fascinating looking credit sheets you will find with this latest casting news.
If you are a fan of smart science fiction then you have no excuse to avoid Shane Carruth's Primer. Harkening back to the idea-driven, pre-blockbuster days of the genre, yet still feeling ahead of its time, Primer is a mind-bendingly brilliant and confidently produced micro-budget time travel movie.
Real Steel is Dreamworks’ latest outing and I'll start off by saying that my expectations were low. Imagine my surprise when it actually turned out to be a pretty decent movie.
The premise is generic. Set in the not too distant future, Charlie Kenton (Jackman) is a washed up boxer, now specialising in the world of Robot Boxing. He discovers that his ex-partner has passed away and left behind his estranged 11 year old son, Max (Goyo). Charlie and Max team up for a few weeks before full custody is handed over to his aunt, and they discover an old sparring robot in the scrap yard. Max believes it could be a champion.
Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of witnessing Javier Bardem’s Oscar winning turn as ruthless hitman Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men will know that the man can play bad. Really bad.
Given that one completely pointless and unnecessary remake will shortly be opening in cinemas (The Prequel To The Thing), it's with uncanny timing that Brazilian director José Padilha has started talking about another completely pointless and unnecessary remake, which in this case is his reboot of RoboCop.
It’s an unfortunate side effect of real life that sometimes the need to earn some dollar gets in the way of the things that you really want to do. That’s much how I feel around about this time every year, as the BFI London Film Festival season swings around.
An ill-timed sojourn to sunny Andalucia happened to not only coincide with the hottest week in October since records began, or so I’m told, but also with week one of the festival’s press screenings.
Idiot.
Last month we were treated to Jurassic Park returning to the big screen and now this month we get this Disney classic in all its glory. The trend for bringing back classic movies for another stint at the Cineplex is one which I’m sure we can all get behind. These cherished childhood films have, for most of us, only been enjoyed on grainy VHS tapes and occasional TV viewings and their first outing at the cinema is now a distant memory. The opportunity to see them again is also a chance to regress back into childhood and remember why you enjoyed them so much growing up.
