21st Jan2023

Elvis (Film)

by timbaros

rev-1-ELVIS-0074r_High_Res_JPEGA description of the new film ‘Elvis’ can be summed up in two words – it’s fantastic, and Austin Butlers performance can be described as mesmerising. 
Butler becomes Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmanns newly-released film on the trials and tribulations in the life of the king of rock who died at the young age of 42 in 1977.

Told through the eyes of Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks in a performance that is a bit distracting from the main larger than life character) who micro-managed every bit of Presley’s career, right down to not allowing him to travel internationally (Parker emigrated illegally to the United States at the age of 20.) But while the film begins and ends with Parker, it’s really all about Austin – I mean Presley.

It’s really hard to distinguish Austin from Presley because Austin looks like, sounds like, and acts like Presley, it’s actually like Presley himself is starring in his own movie. And the scenes of Elvis on stage in Las Vegas will send chills down your spine as Austin nails down all of Elvis’s movements, right down to his swivelling hips (which was too racy for American television at that time that he was filmed above the waist).

We get to see Elvis’s close relationship with his mother Gladys(Helen Thomson), and his father (a one-note performance by Richard Roxburgh), to when he went into the army where in a television moment he got his hair cut, to meeting 16-year old Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge) – whom he went on to marry in 1967. Then we are treated to his Las Vegas years which are the highlight of the film where you’ll get goosebumps watching Butler swivel on stage – it’s almost too much for the heart to take.

Luhrmann throws us for a loop in his direction as one might be expecting a Moulon Rouge fantasy style musical but ‘Elvis’ is pure biographical and it’s showcase is Butler. While Hanks has star billing but might be playing a bit too over the top , Butlers performance is just about perfect – and literally a star is born where he is a shoo-in come awards season. 
And while the film is not 100% perfect, it’s a great tribute to Elvis.
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02nd Sep2020

Sleepless – Theatre

by timbaros

Sleepless Artwork

The West End is back, and it’s in Wembley!
’Sleepless’ the first major stage productions to open up in London in 6 months (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre opened in Mid-August with ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’). Originally scheduled to open on April 1st, it was sidelined, like all other productions, until further notice. But now it is here, and it’s a fun and lively show that will keep you entertained and emotional, not just because of the romantic plot but also because it’s a real live show that you’ll be watching, and not a taped show on your laptop!
Playing at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, in, yes Wembley (not quite the West End), ‘Sleepless’ is based on the 1993 hit film ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ (which starred Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks). And while stars Jay McGuiness and Kimberly Walsh are no Hanks and Ryan, they make a fantastic pair as a man and woman who are destined to be together.
If you don’t know the plot, McGuiness is single father Sam. His wife passed away a year ago and he is left with young son Jonah. Jonah calls into a radio station to announce that his father is available to meet someone new, very much to Sam’s dismay. Enter Walsh’s Annie, a journalist about to be married to the dull but romantic Walter (Daniel Casey). When Annie hears about Jonah’s plea, she somehow feels that for her it’s a true calling, and she decides on a rendevous time and place in the hopes that Sam will be there and then. Of course, Sleepless ends on a happy note, and without giving too much away it’s happily ever after, with toe-tapping songs and a very good supporting cast to get us to the happy ending. While it’s not quite award-winning stuff, it gets my award for bringing a smile to people’s faces, and for ambitiously opening up.
The seating capacity at this very large and very new theatre has been reduced from 1,300 to 400. Masks are required to wear while inside the auditorium (including the bar area), temperature checks and track and trace are there as you walk into the compound, and the cast and crew are subject to daily testing. But it’s a magnificent theatre with a bar outside and inside and plenty of space to move around.
But here’s to producers Michael Rose and Damien Sanders for getting this show, a brand new one never been done before, up and running. Kudos to Michael Burdette for the book, Robert Scott and Brendan Cull (new British writers) for the music and lyrics, and the 12 piece orchestra. And kudos to the people you see on stage – they all make it look so seamless and easy, making us forget, temporarily, the events of the past 6 months. This is what theatre is all about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrEKCrlhMs4&feature=youtu.be

SLEEPLESS, A Musical Romance

25 August – 27 September 2020

Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre

3 Fulton Rd

Wembley Park

London HA9 0SP

Booking until 27 September 2020

Box Office: customers@kxtickets.com

Performances:

Tuesday – Saturday at 7.45pm*

Saturday and Sunday at 3pm

*The performances on 1 September will begin at 7.00pm

Tickets: from £15

Running Time:  2 hours including interval

Age guidance: Recommended for ages 5+

People within the same household and/or social bubble may buy up to four tickets together.  All tickets will be allocated by the box office.  Please note that, up to two hours before the performance, people may exchange their tickets, should a member of their party fall ill.

Parking at Wembley Stadium will cost only £1 per car when the ticket is validated through the box office on the day of the performance.

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01st Feb2020

Uncut Gems, Richard Jewell, The Lighthouse, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, Queen & Slim (Film)

by timbaros

Uncut Gems

Uncut Gems (superb) – and other film reviews

Uncut Gems

An Adam Sandler movie connotes bad acting and a stupid plot. Not ‘Uncut Gems’ – it’s fast, furious, heart pounding and brilliant.
Shockingly and shamelessly ‘Uncut Gems’ has been ignored by the people who give out film awards – its Sandlers’ best film ever as well as one of the years top movies.
The action and plot in ‘Uncut Gems’ builds and accelerates into hyperdrive – a feeling probably akin to being on meth with the high becoming more and more intense until an explosive ending.
Sandler plays Manhattan gem dealer Harold Ratner, a man known to place a few bets in his time. He comes across a rare black opal which he wants to sell for a big score. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Other people (criminals) also want their hands on the opal, meanwhile Ratner owes money to loan sharks, he’s been cheating on his wife (Idina Menzel) with his sexy and saucy mistress who is his assistant in the jewellery shop (Julia Fox). Also involved is a professional basketball player dangling lots of money in his face to spend on jewellery. Combining all this and what you have is a man whose life is spiralling out of control to a point where it’s do or die for Ratner.
To say Sandler is brilliant is an understatement. I saw this film last year at the BFI London Film Festival and didn’t know what to expect going in. When I left the cinema 135 minutes later, my head was spinning and my mind took hours to process what I had just seen. The ending is such a crescendo it’s so unlike anything you’d expect from a Sandler movie. 
Directors (and brothers) Benny and Josh Safdie (who did the award winning 2017 film ‘Good Time’ starring Robert Pattison), with a script by both of them (and Ronald Bronstein), bring us a superb film that’s thrilling, intense, and will have you on the edge of your seat. And while all the cast is brilliant, ‘Uncut Gems’ is Sandlers’ movie. Go see it just for him, and expect the ending to just blow your mind.
‘Uncut Gems’ is on Netflix but is also currently playing in local cinemas.

 
 
Other films opening this weekend include:
 
Richard Jewell
 
89-year old Director Clint Eastwood shows he’s still got it. In ‘Richard Jewell’, he tells the story of the man who was initially blamed for the bomb that exploded in Atlanta, Georgia during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Paul Walter Hauser is fine as Jewell, an overweight security’s guard who still lives with his mother (Kathy Bates in overacting mode). A back story of a reporter (Olivia Wilde) who will do anything to get her story (including sleeping with FBI agent Jon Hamm) did not happen so take this film with a grain of salt. Sam Rockwell is very good as usual as the man who never doubted Jewell’s innocence. 
 
The Lighthouse
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Powerful acting by both Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, and superb cinematography by Oscar nominee Jarin Blaschke, are the highlights of this film about two men sent to a remote location to take care of a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere. As boredom, heavy and continuous rain, and monstrous waves take their toll on both men, they start grating on each other after too many meals and too much time together, and it all comes to a head as Pattinson’s Ephraim Winslow starts getting annoyed as Dafoe’s bossman character Tom Wake barks one order too many. A bit on the homoerotic side, ‘The Lighthouse’ is visually so unlike any film you’ll see this year, or even this decade. 
 
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
 
Going into this film I expected a story of the lovable Mister Rogers – the man who, for decades hosted the U.S. childrens’ television show ‘ Mister Rogers Neighborhood’, but it’s not a story about him. It’s the story of writer Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) doing a magazine article about Mister Rogers. Of course, Mister Rogers hypothetically stands in for Vogel’s father, a man he never got a long with and was never able to please (played a bit over the top by Chris Cooper). Hanks is superb as Rogers but after leaving the cinema I felt a bit ripped off as I didn’t get the film that was advertised. 
 
Queen & Slim
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A Tinder date turns into a nightmare for Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya). Director Melina Matsoukas and writer Lena Waithe have taken their lead for this film from America’s racial problems by placing the titular black couple in a situation where they are, on their first date, pulled over by a white cop. It is just the beginning of their road trip that turns their relationship from strangers into lovers and partners in crime. A bit ’Thelma & Louise,’ ‘Queen & Slim’ will bowl you over by the very fine performances from the leads as well as the political message it sends about race, and the very dramatic ending.
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22nd Mar2014

Saving Mr. Banks – DVD

by timbaros
images-31Saving Mr. Banks is a Disney film about a Disney film. So in the telling of the story of the behind the scenes of the making of the 1964 film Mary Poppins, both Disney and Walt Disney are of course prominently featured.
In Saving Mr. Banks, Walt Disney tries to persuade the author of the book, P.L. Travers, to let him turn his book into a movie. Separately and in flashbacks,  P.L Travers’ reminisces about her childhood and the relationship she had with her father.
Mr. Walt Disney (a perfectly cast Tom Hanks) flies in P.L. Travers (a very British Emma Thompson) to Los Angeles to, firstly, allow him to make her book Mary Poppins into a film (after begging her for almost 20 years), and secondly, to be there (and possibly help out) in the writing of the film, much to the dismay of the film’s songwriters – Richard and Robert Sherman (Jason Schwartzman and B.J Novak). The other part of Saving Mr. Banks is the story of P.L. Travers herself as a little girl (played by the winning Australian Annie Buckley) who, with her family, lives on a farm in Queensland, Australia, with her mom (Ruth Wilson), and father Robert (a surprisingly good Colin Farrell), and his addiction to alcohol.
Mary Poppins, in case you have forgotten, is the story of a man, George Banks, who, with his suffering wife, Mrs. Banks, search for a perfect nanny for their two children, children who have a tendency to misbehave and run off (and no previous nanny could handle them). Mary Poppins blows in (literally) to take care of the children and to set them straight. (Pamela) P.L. Travers’ father was the inspiration for George Banks.
Thompson depicts Travers as a very snooty know-it-all woman. She is insulting (always putting down the Sherman brothers lyrics), rude (barging into Disney’s offices anytime she wants), and at one point goes back to England, leaving the production, and Walt Disney, hanging. It is up to Walt Disney to fly to London to get her formal approval for Disney to finish making Mary Poppins. She finally comes around (lucky for us). The depiction of Travers in Saving Mr. Banks is not a very good one and it really effects the likeability of this movie. In the beginning of the film, as she lands in Los Angeles, the first thing she says is that it smells like chlorine.
On the other hand, there is no better actor in Hollywood to play Walt Disney than Tom Hanks. Hanks has a reputation as being the nicest person in Hollywood, and he plays Disney like he could be your own father who has the keys to the biggest candy store in the world.
The part of Saving Mr. Banks where Travers is a young girl in Australia is the best part of this film. It actually seems like a different movie altogether. Told in flashbacks while Travers is in Los Angeles, we see that her childhood was a good one, but unfortunately the father that she loved so dearly was a gambler and an alcoholic who could not take care of his young family. Buckley as a young Travers is amazing, as is Wilson as Margaret, her mother. Farrell, as her father, gives the best performance in this film as an ill-tempered yet loving man who really wants to take care of his family but cannot do so due to his addictions. The scenes play out like a dream sequence, they are very good. And then there is a woman who comes from the sky (not literally) to help the family.
Saving Mr. Banks depicts Travers weeping with tears of joy at the premier of Mary Poppins. But in reality, she did weep, with tears of horror, stating ‘Oh God, what have they done.’ So while Saving Mr. Banks is a good film, one that may make you weep, don’t let Thompson’s very negative portrayal of Travers and the fact that this film is not entirely the true story of the making of Mary Poppins put you off. It is definitely a film for the entire family.
Saving Mr. Banks is now available on DVD.

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15th Feb2014

Captain Phillips – DVD

by timbaros
images-100Captain Phillips is the story of man who is responsible not just for his ship but also for the lives of his crew members, it is a story of survival, action, adventure, human emotion and a look at a man who faces uncertainty.
In an Academy Award worthy performance, Hanks plays Richard Phillips, a family man from America’s Northeast who does not have a typical office job, his job is to captain ships to carry cargo through friendly and sometimes not so friendly waters. It is March 2009, and Phillips (this film is based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy Seals, and Dangerous Days at sea, by the real Richard Phillips) is captaining the MV Maersk Alabama, a cargo ship that is travelling to Moombasa, Kenya via the Arabian Sea and past the east coast of the Somali coastline – international waters. Once the Maersk Alabaman reaches these waters, Phillips and his captain Shane Murphy (Michael Chernus), notice two objects quickly approaching their ship. They know right there and then that these two boats are not a welcoming committee. They know, from information provided to them by the U.S. government, that these boats are Somali pirates. To try to thwart them, Phillips makes a false announcement on the radio that they can hear. One of the boats turns around, but one continues speeding straight ahead towards them.  Luckily for Phillips and his crew, this second boat eventually turns around and disappears off their radar. However, later in the day, a single boat is detected on their radar, again heading straight for them. This boat eventually gets to within meters of the Alabama, with four Somali’s on board, who start shooting at the captain and his crew. Trying to stave them off, Phillips orders the water cannons to be turned on as a deterrent from them getting on board. One of the water cannons fails, so Murphy attempts to fix it, but is unable to, and the four Somali pirates use a ladder to get on the boat, rifles in hand, demanding money. Not content with the $30,000 Phillips has onboard to offer them, the situation becomes tense and violent. Phillips tries to outsmart them, and at the same time trying to keep the whereabout of the rest of his crew known to the pirate. The pirates, headed by Bilal (a scary and amazing performance by newcomer Barkhad Abdirahman), are very aggressive and don’t want the hijacking to get out of hand, and they want to find the rest of the crew, who are hiding in the ship’s engine room. The movie gets more dramatic and tense as things go very wrong and Captain Phillips is taken hostage aboard the Somali’s boat. From this point Captain Phillips accelerates its action, intensifies the drama, and shows the pain that Captain Phillips has while he struggles and tries to reason with his captors, all the while being in a very cramped space in the small boat. He senses deep down that this may be the very last time he will be on the water. He is convinced his captors are going to kill him.Greengrass, who directed United 93, Green Zone and The Bourne Ultimatum and Supremacy, sure does know his away around an action film, However, in Captain Phillips, unlike in his other films, he gives his leading man depth, a personality, a real human being (Hanks), who carries the film throughout. Hanks gives the performance of his career, and at the age of 57, having appeared in some of the most successful films of all time, including Oscars for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, his performance here is a revelation. In Captain Phillips, Hanks plays a character almost similar to his character in Philadelphiia; death is imminent – or for Captain Phillips – is it? And in the last 10 minutes of this film, Phillips is very distressed, very emotional, very confused, and in shock, and Hanks’ performance in this scene is the mark of a true action genius. It is this part of the film that seals Hanks as one of the greatest actors of all time. Kudos are also for the actors playing the Somali pirates. They are not just the usual bad guy characters, each of them is completely drawn with their own personality, and not lumped as typical terrorists seen on the big screen nowadays. Actually, the actors who played the pirates auditioned to be in this film in Minneapolis, which has a large Somali community, by responding to a television advert. Abdirahman had been working as a limousine driver, and auditioned and got what is basically the second lead role in the film, behind Hanks. Shockingly, Tom Hanks has not been nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. This is the biggest mistake the Academy has ever done.
To set the record straight, the real crew members of the Alabama have claimed that this film does not tell the true story. The Chief Engineer of the Alabama, according to CNN, said that Phillips’ recklessness put the ship in pirate-controlled waters. Another engineer claimed that Phillips ignored warnings and set a course through dangerous waters to save time and money. Whatever the facts are, Captain Phillips the movie is one exhilarating ride, with a truly stunning performance by Hanks. Captain Phillips is the film event of the year. Go see it.
Category : DVD
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08th Jan2014

BAFTA Nominations – Film

by timbaros

IMG_3921The British Academy of Film and Television Arts have announced the nominees for the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA’s). Gravity leads the way with 11 nominations, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Director for Alfonso Cuaron, and Leading Actress for Sandra Bullock. 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle are right behind Gravity with 10 nominations each. 12 Years a Slave has nominations for Best Film, Director for Steve McQueen, Chiwetel Ejiofor for Leading Actor, Michael Fassbender for Supporting Actor and Lupita Nyong’o for Supporting Actress. American Hustle is also nominated for Best Film and Director, for David O. Russell. It also has acting nominations in each acting category, including Christian Bale for Leading Actor, Amy Adams for Leading Actress, Bradley Cooper for Supporting Actor and Jennifer Lawrence for Supporting Actress. Captain Phillips has 9 nominations, including Best Film, Director for Paul Greengrass, Tom Hanks for Leading Actor and newcomer Barkhad Barki for Supporting Actor. The winners will be announced in a ceremony to be held on Sunday February 16th at London’s Royal Opera House.

The nominations are:

BEST FILM
12 YEARS A SLAVE Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen
AMERICAN HUSTLE Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman
PHILOMENA Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, Jonás Cuarón
MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM Justin Chadwick, Anant Singh, David M. Thompson, William Nicholson
PHILOMENA Stephen Frears, Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward, Jeff Pope
RUSH Ron Howard, Andrew Eaton, Peter Morgan
SAVING MR. BANKS John Lee Hancock, Alison Owen, Ian Collie, Philip Steuer, Kelly Marcel, Sue Smith
THE SELFISH GIANT: Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
COLIN CARBERRY (Writer), GLENN PATTERSON (Writer)Good Vibrations
KELLY MARCEL (Writer) Saving Mr. Banks
KIERAN EVANS (Director/Writer) Kelly + Victor
PAUL WRIGHT (Director/Writer), POLLY STOKES (Producer) For Those in Peril
SCOTT GRAHAM (Director/Writer) Shell

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
THE ACT OF KILLING Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval
THE GREAT BEAUTY Paolo Sorrentino, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima
METRO MANILA  Sean Ellis, Mathilde Charpentier
WADJDA Haifaa Al-Mansour, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul

DOCUMENTARY
THE ACT OF KILLING Joshua Oppenheimer
THE ARMSTRONG LIE Alex Gibney
BLACKFISH Gabriela Cowperthwaite
TIM’S VERMEER Teller, Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler
WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS Alex Gibney

ANIMATED FILM
DESPICABLE ME 2 Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
FROZEN Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY Dan Scanlon

DIRECTOR
12 YEARS A SLAVE Steve McQueen
AMERICAN HUSTLE David O. Russell
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Paul Greengrass
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Martin Scorsese

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
AMERICAN HUSTLE Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
BLUE JASMINE Woody Allen
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
NEBRASKA Bob Nelson 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 YEARS A SLAVE John Ridley
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Richard LaGravenese
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Billy Ray
PHILOMENA Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Terence Winter

LEADING ACTOR
BRUCE DERN Nebraska
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR 12 Years a Slave
CHRISTIAN BALE American Hustle
LEONARDO DICAPRIO The Wolf of Wall Street
TOM HANKS Captain Phillips

LEADING ACTRESS
AMY ADAMS American Hustle
CATE BLANCHETT Blue Jasmine
EMMA THOMPSON Saving Mr. Banks
JUDI DENCH Philomena
SANDRA BULLOCK Gravity

SUPPORTING ACTOR
BARKHAD ABDI Captain Phillips
BRADLEY COOPER American Hustle
DANIEL BRÜHL Rush
MATT DAMON Behind the Candelabra
MICHAEL FASSBENDER 12 Years a Slave

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
JENNIFER LAWRENCE American Hustle
JULIA ROBERTS August: Osage County
LUPITA NYONG’O 12 Years a Slave
OPRAH WINFREY The Butler
SALLY HAWKINS Blue Jasmine

ORIGINAL MUSIC
12 YEARS A SLAVE  Hans Zimmer
THE BOOK THIEF John Williams
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Henry Jackman
GRAVITY Steven Price
SAVING MR. BANKS Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY
12 YEARS A SLAVE Sean Bobbitt
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Barry Ackroyd
GRAVITY Emmanuel Lubezki
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Bruno Delbonnel
NEBRASKA Phedon Papamichael

EDITING
12 YEARS A SLAVE Joe Walker
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Christopher Rouse
GRAVITY Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
RUSH Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Thelma Schoonmaker

PRODUCTION DESIGN
12 YEARS A SLAVE Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
AMERICAN HUSTLE Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Howard Cummings
GRAVITY Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woodlard
THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn

COSTUME DESIGN
AMERICAN HUSTLE Michael Wilkinson
BEHIND THE CANDELABRA Ellen Mirojnick
THE GREAT GATSBY Catherine Martin
THE INVISIBLE WOMAN Michael O’Connor
SAVING MR. BANKS Daniel Orlandi

MAKE UP & HAIR
AMERICAN HUSTLE Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell
BEHIND THE CANDELABRAKate Biscoe, Marie Larkin
THE BUTLER Debra Denson, Beverly Jo Pryor, Candace Neal
THE GREAT GATSBY Maurizio Silvi, Kerry Warn
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater

SOUND

ALL IS LOST Richard Hymns, Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Micah Bloomberg, Gillian Arthur

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, Oliver Tarney

GRAVITY Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff

RUSH Danny Hambrook, Martin Steyer, Stefan Korte, Markus Stemler, Frank Kruse

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

GRAVITY Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds

IRON MAN 3 Bryan Grill, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick

PACIFIC RIM Hal Hickel, John Knoll, Lindy De Quattro, Nigel Sumner

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton, Patrick Tubach, Roger Guyett

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
EVERYTHING I CAN SEE FROM HERE Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Friederike Nicolaus, Sam Taylor
I AM TOM MOODY Ainslie Henderson
SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES James Walker, Sarah Woolner, Yousif Al-Khalifa

BRITISH SHORT FILM
ISLAND QUEEN Ben Mallaby, Nat Luurtsema
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES Megan Rubens, Michael Pearce, Selina Lim
ORBIT EVER AFTER Chee-Lan Chan, Jamie Stone, Len Rowles
ROOM 8 James W. Griffiths, Sophie Venner
SEA VIEW Anna Duffield, Jane Linfoot

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (previously announced, voted for by the public)
DANE DEHAAN
GEORGE MACKAY
LUPITA NYONG’O
WILL POULTER
LÉA SEYDOUX

Tom Hanks nomination is his 4th. He has yet to win a BAFTA. Amy Adams also has had four nominations with no wins. Cate Blanchett has earned her 6th nominations, with two previous wins (Leading Actress in 1999 for Elizabeth and Supporting Actress in 2005 for The Aviator). Emma Thompson has earned her 7th nomination (and has had wins for Leading Actress in 1993 for Howards End and in 1996 for Sense and Sensibility).

Judi Dench is now the most nominated actress is film. She was nominated for her 15th BAFTA for her performance in Philomena. She was won six BAFTA’s: Most promising newcomer (1994), Supporting Actress for A Room With a View (1987), A Handful of Dust (1989) and Shakespeare in Love (2001), and Leading Actress for Mrs Brown (1989) and Iris (2002). She has also won the Fellowship award in 2001.

Martin Scorsese was nominated for his 12th BAFTA. He has won the award three times: Best Film, Screenplay and Director, all for Goodfellas in 1991. He was awarded the Fellowship award in 2012.

Woody Allen is now the most nominations in film. This year he picked up a nomination for Original Screenplay for Blue Jasmine. In total he was been nominated 24 times, and has won 10.

Photo by Tim Baros

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01st Dec2013

Saving Mr. Banks – Film

by timbaros

images-31Saving Mr. Banks is the story of the behind the scenes of the making of the 1964 film Mary Poppins in which Walt Disney tries to persuade the author of the book, P.L. Travers, to let him turn his book into a movie. There is also a movie within a movie that tells of Travers’ childhood and the relationship she had with her father.

 At a little over two hours, Saving Mr. Banks packs a lot of story into it. First off we have Walt Disney (a perfectly cast Tom Hanks) who flies in P.L. Travers (a very British Emma Thompson) to Los Angeles to, firstly, allow him to make her book Mary Poppins into a film (after begging her for almost 20 years), and secondly, to be there (and possibly help out) in the writing of the film, much to the dismay of the film’s songwriters – Richard and Robert Sherman (Jason Schwartzman and B.J Novak). The second arch of the movie is the story of P.L. Travers herself as a little girl (played by the winning Australian Annie Buckley) who, with her family, lives on a farm in Queensland, Australia, with her mom (Ruth Wilson), and father Robert (a surprisingly good Colin Farrell), and his addiction to alcohol.
Mary Poppins is the story of a man, George Banks, who, with his suffering wife, Mrs. Banks, search for a perfect nanny for their two children, who have a tendency to misbehave and run off (which no previous nanny could handle). Mary Poppins blows in (literally) to take care of the children and to set them straight. (Pamela) P.L. Travers’ father was the inspiration for George Banks.
Saving Mr. Banks is, for the most part, an enjoyable film, but there are moments that make you cringe in your seat. Thompson depicts Travers as a very snooty know-it-all woman. She is insulting (always putting down the Sherman brothers lyrics), rude (barging into Disney’s offices anytime she wants), and at one point goes back to England, leaving the production, and Walt Disney, hanging. It is up to Walt Disney to fly to London to get her formal approval for Disney to finish making Mary Poppins. She finally comes around (lucky for us). The depiction of Travers in Saving Mr. Banks is not a very good one and it really effects the likeability of this movie. In the beginning of the film, as she lands in Los Angeles, the first thing she says is that it smells like chlorine. This sets the tone for her character throughout the movie.  There is no better actor in Hollywood to play Walt Disney than Tom Hanks. Hanks has a reputation in Hollywood, and around the world, as being the nicest person in Hollywood, and he plays Disney like he could be your own father who has the keys to the biggest candy store in the world. Paul Giamatti plays Travers’ chauffeur, which Travers for most of the film doesn’t realize he exists until the very end.
On the other hand, the part of the movie where Travers is a young girl in Australia is the best part of this film. It actually seems like a different movie altogether. Told in flashbacks while Travers is in Los Angeles, we see that her childhood was a good one, but unfortunately the father that she loved so dearly was a gambler and an alcoholic who could not take care of his young family. Buckley as a young Travers is amazing, as is Ruth Wilson as Margaret, her mother. Farrell, as her father, gives the best performance in this film as an ill-tempered yet loving man who really wants to take care of his family but cannot due to his addictions. The scenes play out like a dream sequence, they are very good. And then there is a woman who comes from the sky (not literally) to help the family.
The film depicts Travers weeping with tears of joy at the premier of Mary Poppins. But in reality, she did weep, with tears of horror, stating ‘Oh God, what have they done.’ So while Saving Mr. Banks is a good film, one that may make you weep, don’t let Thompson’s very negative portrayal of Travers and the fact that this film is not entirely the true story of the making of Mary Poppins put you off. Saving Mr. Banks is a BBC/Disney co-production, so of course the Disney brand in the film is full of sugar and spice and everything nice.
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01st Dec2013

Saving Mr. Banks Press Conference – Film

by timbaros
IMG_3723Excerpts from the Saving Mr. Banks press conference held at the Dorchester Hotel on October 20th:
Q: Was there a sense of trepidation for you in playing Walt Disney?
Tom Hanks: There was a responsibility, which is different than trepidation. Walt Disney was ubiquitious in our lives as Uncle Sam, Smokey the Bear, the President of the United States. I felt that it was going to be quite a distance to go and that we had no clue to where to begin outside my own memories, and that led a substantial, there’s a lot of video out there, there is a lot of audio you can listen to. Unfortunately, it’s mostly Walt Disney performing as Walt Disney. So where you can those moments where he is trying to be natural, something other then ‘the new exciting realm of tomorrow which will be opening…’ that that was worth its weight in gold, I had access to that, thanks to Diane his daughter and the fabulous museum that he is establishing in San Francisco.
Q: How did you come to be introduced to this project?
John Lee Hancock (Director): I was trying to set up another movie. I do adult dramas which take about ten years to get made usually, so I was trying to get one set up when the script (Saving Mr. Banks) came across the desk and I was reading it and I was told that it was quite good, behind the scenes, the making of Mary Poppins, then I thought I like Mary Poppins, I’m not someone who watches it every year so I am probably not the right person for this. Eventually my agent that I should definitely read it and I had the pleasure of having done so, and I picked it up and I was just enthralled, and again Kelly’s words and ah I felt like even though I am a Texas guy from a refinery town I felt inside the story and it was one that I desperately wanted to tell and then I had to get the job. So then I had to go and pitch my take, talk about the movie, and thankfully met Allison Owen in that meeting I got hired, I don’t know how, but thank god.
Q: There is obviously a problem in making a movie about a Disney film with Disney songs, studio, about a corporation, did you expects lots of problems from Disney? Were they forthcoming?
Alison Owen (Producer) I don’t think Kelly (Marcel, Co-Writer) and I didn’t know what to expect when we were developing the project and certainly from its inception there was a question about how much of the clips and songs do we use, how much intellectual property rights are we going to play fast and loose here, and Kelly at one time said ‘do I tiptoe around them, try to use as little as possible or do we just try to make the best story that we can.’
and I think she steered me in the right direction. Let’s just go for it. They’re either going to let us do it in which case we might as well make the best that we possibly can be, or they will shut us down which won’t matter too much. So Kelly set out to write the best script she could, using all the material, then we had a certain strategy, in terms of approaching Disney, and luckily for us, the right people were sitting at the right desk and in the right chairs at that time and Mary Poppins was blowing the wind in the right direction and that was it. And Disney has supported this project and absolutely been smart and intelligent in letting us do the right thing in telling this story.
Q: So Kelly was that your intent as well, rather than trying to be cautious and anticipate problems?
Kelly Marcel (Writer): Yeah, absolutely, I really felt like you can’t tell a story about the making of Mary Poppins without using the songs and using Walt Disney and you know, just throwing it all at the script. I would be disappointed if I went to see the film and didn’t get to hear the songs. I think this is what we knew we were going to do from day one, and I think if Alison hadn’t had said go for it then I wouldn’t of known how to write it, what to do with it. Yes, it was definitely my instinct.
Q: It seems like you were in a different movie half the time there.
Colin Farrell: That sounds like an insult.
Q: There’s a foreground story and there’s a backstory, which of course is the story of Mr. Banks, it seems to me that it is very different from any other role youv’e played, did it feel like a departure for you?
Farrell: Anytime you could step into the fiction of another person’s skin and you peruse the script of the character’s life sort of being the subject of the story, this was on the back of the chronology we were talking about, it did feel a little bit more unique, and I think more than happy about the characters the sensibility, the sensitivity, the whole thing, just in reading, sometimes you read things you put them down, you get very analytical about them, you think about the dialogue, you think about the situation, characters, and you look at the whole stories , this defied any kind of analysis. It was moving, from start to finish, and fun at turns. So I loved the character even more than the character, it just seemed, you know I feel , it’s really nice to be part of things that work, and things that affect people. So that the whole becomes greater than the parts that make it. That is more apparent to me so like Emma, I mean I never did read the first page because it came down and then we heard my voiceover so it was like, yes, that’s my film.
Q: Have any of you seen the film Mary Poppins since you made Saving Mr. Banks and does if feel different? The backstory of it?
Emma Thompson: The first night we were all together in L.A., they showed Mary Poppins. That was the last time I saw it, actually. We al sat there marvelling at it and saying ‘Ohmygod I forgot this bit, that bit’ and then ‘Ohmygod it’s so long’, it went on for days. But that it was extraordinary filmmaking.
Hancock: Kelly and I went through how many times scene by scene in just just saying is there some little twinkle we can put in there so people that are real fans of the movie that won’t obstruct the plot to tell the theme just little nuggets for people who are big fans, there’s a bunch of them in there.
Marcel: There’s quite a few, it was lovely.
Thompson: Don’t tell them all.
Q: I thought the performance you gave was most moving, especially the father daughter chemistry, if you can say how you managed to get that? Did you talk with her first? What was your experience in filming with her?
Farrell: Custard cremes. She’s incredible. I mean I don’t know how many actors or actresses are small human beings that John Lee and Alison may have met in Los Angeles I know they met many. When they went over to Australia they researched where Travers and her family were from and they saw a lot of young girls there as well and I believe they went through it was quite an ordeal to get her legal papers to work but it was worth every single phone call because she’s phenomonal, to work with her, it was real easy. She was there with her twin brother Max and her parents were over and our section of the film was it was such a pleasure that they shot in chronology and did it all in two weeks so very much felt like a film within itself so for two weeks we went to a ranch, which was about 350 acres and then a house which was about a hour and a half north of Los Angeles, scorched Earth, young grass, bent over,and they built this lovely little house, and it was just Ruth, the girls, six chickens, one horse, happy days.
Q: How much input do you like to have a writer have when you are playing in a film. Tom, in particular to your production side, do you like the writer to get involved in the scriptwriting or do you just hand it over?
Hanks: Well, in this case I was a hired gun. I didn’t say anything that didn’t appear in the script and we had meetings in which we went over, I think I had questions that went sort of like, there were some Americanisms that I think needed to be put in and some things that I discovered that Walt had a tendency to say that he originally used, that was all ok, we treated this I think we can all agree like the bible, we were not we did not mess around. The apostle, the gospel according to, so there are types of films that define themselves and I think that was going to be the requirement for making this movie when extremely well constructed beautifully knit sweater and I am not about to start pulling a thread loose to have it all fall apart.
Thomspon: It is miserable goingointo a film when the script is not ready, you know, really, Barry Sonenfeld will tell you he didn’t write up a script and he started filming, I will tell you that was the third act, I don’t understand how to work like that.
Farrell: I’ve finished films even when the script wasn’t ready…..ha, ha…
Thompson: I added one line just in response……(inaudible)…
Marcel: and it was brilliant. They were all absolutely amazing, it was such an incredible experience, to have everyone be so true to the script, that’s all John’s.
Q: You have a terrific performance and at the end I needed some tissues. Given your stellar reputation, and that everyone says they love working with, how do you get into the mindset of the woman?
Thomson: I just let out my inner prickly pen. Basically it was my true self. I don’t hide that for effect, because  you know you get on better, so I just let it all hang out and I’m going to tell that it was such a relief to be rude, really, and to have no repurcussions whatsoever, saying, you know, I don’t, can you imagine, I don’t want to go to your f*cking press conference, just to come out with these things and she didn’t, she said just what she meant, and she just said it, and I do that sometimes and get into some sort of trouble, but we will, now, but, that was what was so great.
Hanks: She said what we all think.
Moderator: Indeed she has!
Q: If you had the opportunity to ask the characters one thing, what would you ask them to get into the mindset of that character and to make sure you played them correctly?
Panel: Can you repeat what you’ve just asked?
Thomson: If you would ask Margaret, who was a bit suicidal and a bit sad,
Wilson: Why didn’t you leave him quicker? It’s a good question.
silence….
Thomson: You next Tom. Then the press conference came to a sordid end. They sat there thinking.
Hanks: Interesting, fascinating, mind numbing, hypothetical wrestling with in ways that actually I’m gonna it’s gonna fill me with self loathing. I would have to say, um, that, ah, eh, uh, I’m knocking myself, it is such a brilliant question.
Moderator: Congratulations for that
Hanks:How about if we can tell the other person what we would ask. How ’bout that.
Please Kelly write something we can say. We’re coming back to this. We refuse to leave this question unanswered.
Question: This question’s probably for Emma. You’ve created your own Mary Poppins at some point called Madame McPhee, so how, how influenced were you, did you know the story behind Mary Poppins the book and had you already researched that.
Thomson: No, no, not at all. It’s interesting to create a magical nanny and they you play someone whose created a magical nanny and you suppose that behind every magical nanny is a cantankerous opinionated old bat. Let that sink in…umm….Yes, perhaps there is some sort of alter ego, someone you wish you could be um, certainly I wish I could like that, and think with Walt and the mouse and having her, nanny, there’s certainly ah these are characters that are created out of the soul of that person when the soul was very vulnerable and emergent, as it were. So that’s what gives them their power. Their staying power. She said that she didn’t invent Mary Poppins but that Mary Poppins just arrived. And I think that most writers, a genius, would say the same thing. Most kind of say I didn’t write it, it just of arrived in me, there’s even ah even the most cantankerous writer says there a generosity of spirit of where these things come from, and, of course they are not going to come unless you sit at the writing table with your pen, that’s the discipline, but if you do that, then , then it’s like fill the dreams. You know, if you sit there, it will come, and sometimes its in a form that will survive any number of cultural interpretations or reinterpretations, and that what’s so interesting about this, and that as a movie about two cultures coming together, and clashing as one iconic creation.
Question: Question for Tom, Emma and Collin could answer, that would be great. Mr. Disney was a man that made us all dream and all of you have a dream profession, I think, and in a way and I think you also should be dreamers, I was wondering when you were beginning your careers, or before that, what kind of dreams were you have before coming into this dreamworld that was connected to Walt Disney.
Hanks: I I had no dreams at all, I was just trying to you know, make, just trying to hook up get some a job other than the one I had. That’s not unlike what Walt Disney did. When he started drawing he was drawing out in a disconnected garage from his house in Kansas City and he just had art supplies and he was just banging out stuff that came into his head hoping that he might be able to sell them for $5 a piece. I I relate to that. There is no clue as to where any of this stuff will take you, I was hoping make a living little bit more than nothing. Because I thought that this is just a job that you volunteer for, if you’re good enough at it they will ask you to play something else, and they will pay you $40 a week. This concept of having dreams when you’re young and always having to rhyme it, I could not understand it. I had not a single dream in my head. I kind of am like the communists. If I can build a decent tractor I can build another tractor. I didn’t have a 5 year plan, I was just stumbling around.
Question: A lot of Walt Disney’s meeting were obviously recorded. There’s a lot of factual information about some of these people involved. So how much creative license can any of you take, with the characters, with the story and leave for the people who aren’t documented as well.
Thompson: We take creative license because we are artists, I mean we are not documentarians. So you have to.
Hancock: The job was for it to be entertaining and hopefully moving and you have all that information about real characters, you have to condense it, you have to find an order for it, I don’t think anyone would want to watch a movie of the 39 hours spent in a rehearsal room, like a Warhol film or something, there are, I’m sure there are days that were really boring in there. So I think when you had Kelly Marcel (co-writer) was able to parch through everything and find the stuff that is entertaining and have it somehow congeal in a way where thematically it’s true, and tonally it’s true, that’s job 1. I think.
Thompson: and with her P.L. Travers has this theory in that women’s lives are divided into three main parts: me, mother and crone. And it’s great if you look her up its very interesting and something very true about it. And we wanted to put part of each part into this, into this carnation of her, so rather than me playing someone who is rather like, mumble, mumble, mumble, that would’ve driven all of us and the audience screaming out into the night, So um
the movie starts when she was a mother, she was an angel, acting, her sexuality, that’s creative license I suppose, You’re taking bits and folding them back in to this period of time which is actually not very long to spend in a very complicated character – two hours. You know, so I suppose that’s creative license.
Question: Can you share you memories of watching Mary Poppins for the first time?
Kelly Marcel (Writer): I used to watch it every Christmas. So I know it inside out. So yes, it was part of growing up. I’ve not watch it much since. We watched it at Colin’s house but I’ve not seen it since the movie. I am looking forward to seeing it to see if I see it differently.
Hanks: I think I was I think it was re-released. I didn’t see it on it’s first go-round I think I saw it on it’s re-release, I was probably taken to it. Uh, but, the um the Mary Poppins step in time the chimney sweep’s dance I remember I just thought that I was taking speed or something. That was just the most amazing I didn’t know anything about dance but that was a magical sequence Step in time.
Thomson: I remember when the smoke turns into a ladder you know the smoke turns into steps. You remember that? It is just moments that you go as a child thinking Uh, oh, I wanted that to be possible so I really wanted that to be possible. And I was so in love with Dick
Hanks: We all are
Farrell: We are overobssessing over all Godstoppers. The wanted factor there. It is kind of like a Beatles/Rolling Stones question whether you are a Mary Poppins fellow or a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – We want the chocolate. Not that there’s any particular perfect time to see it. But Willy Wonka was my Christmas film. Stephen King hated The Shining. Different Mediums. I get my writer.
Thomson: I sent Stephen King a message about this press conference.
Question: You must of gone back to Richard Sherman. Can you explain what he contributed to the film?
Marcel: Well Dick was just a
Hanks: We all like Dick
Marcel: He’s coming up a lot! It was just amazing. I was just explaining to someone earlier actually that after we met him and we did an entirely new parts of the script because his mannerisms are enormous, I mean he’s the biggest, jolliest fellow you can ever meet. Literally like a cartoon character. He’s just incredibly wonderful and meeting him was kind of a beautiful experience we came in and he was crying because she had um ruined his life, I mean he really was very bitter and twisted about what went on in those rooms with P.L. Travers and when we went to see him he was saying to Jon, Alison and I crying his out eyes out going ‘I didn’t know that she had that childhood’ and then now I can forgive her and now I feel ok so it’s been quite a kind of cathartic experience, really, and he played all of the Mary Poppins songs for us and we all just cried, for hours.
Alison Owen (Producer): What was one of the most glorious things actually I think was having Richard as part of the experience. To watch two people have to watch two people watching moments of their lives being reconstructed and and weeping and holding each other’s hands was incredibly moving. It was really really wonderful. And Richard was an incredible asset to us right from the start. His enthusiasm, his support, his anecdotes and what he meant to Disney. His support when we went to Disney was he was absolutely invaluable because he was an actual Disney person and the fact that he’d taken us under our wing and he loved what we had done what we had done and and that was convey the truth and was quite vocal and should be told.
Hooker: He was part of the film. He was there with us everyday. Really invaluable.
Question: How do you want this film to be viewed. As entertainment Something that will surprise people, inform people.
Hooker: Oh gosh
Question: What do you want.
Hooker: That’s a tough one. You want all of the above. I mean you make a movie Everybody says you make movies for everybody else but ultimately it’s one and half year two years of your life its a marriage not a date you have to make it for yourself first and foremost and you hope that other people enjoy and um and see what you saw in it and what you continue to see in it so I would very happy for people would see the movie that we all worked so hard on. And hopefully they enjoy it, for whatever reason whatever people believe from that Good on you, I hope. Thank you.

 

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20th Oct2013

Captain Phillips – Film

by timbaros

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We’ve all seen the trailers for the new movie Captain Phillips, which stars Tom Hanks as the captain of a cargo ship that gets hijacked by Somali Pirates. But Captain Phillips is so much more than a film about a hijacked ship. It is also the story of man who is responsible not just for his ship but also for the lives of his crew members, it is a story of survival, action, adventure, human emotion and a look at a man who faces uncertainty. 
 
In an Academy Award worthy performance, Hanks plays Richard Phillips, a family man from America’s Northeast who does not have a typical office job, his job is to captain ships to carry cargo through friendly and sometimes not so friendly waters. It is March 2009, and Phillips (this film is based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy Seals, and Dangerous Days at sea, by the real Richard Phillips) is captaining the MV Maersk Alabama, a cargo ship that is travelling to Moombasa, Kenya via the Arabian Sea and past the east coast of the Somali coastline – international waters. Once the Maersk Alabaman reaches these waters, Phillips and his captain Shane Murphy (Michael Chernus), notice two objects quickly approaching their ship. They know right there and then that these two boats are not a welcoming committee. They know, from information provided to them by the U.S. government, that these boats are Somali pirates. To try to thwart them, Phillips makes a false announcement on the radio that they can hear. One of the boats turns around, but one continues speeding straight ahead towards them.  Luckily for Phillips and his crew, this second boat eventually turns around and disappears off their radar. However, later in the day, a single boat is detected on their radar, again heading straight for them. This boat eventually gets to within meters of the Alabama, with four Somali’s on board, who start shooting at the captain and his crew. Trying to stave them off, Phillips orders the water cannons to be turned on as a deterrent from them getting on board. One of the water cannons fails, so Murphy attempts to fix it, but is unable to, and the four Somali pirates use a ladder to get on the boat, rifles in hand, demanding money. Not content with the $30,000 Phillips has onboard to offer them, the situation becomes tense and violent. Phillips tries to outsmart them, and at the same time trying to keep the whereabout of the rest of his crew known to the pirate. The pirates, headed by Bilal (a scary and amazing performance by newcomer Barkhad Abdirahman), are very aggressive and don’t want the hijacking to get out of hand, and they want to find the rest of the crew, who are hiding in the ship’s engine room. The movie gets more dramatic and tense as things go very wrong and Captain Phillips is taken hostage aboard the Somali’s boat. From this point Captain Phillips accelerates its action, intensifies the drama, and shows the pain that Captain Phillips has while he struggles and tries to reason with his captors, all the while being in a very cramped space in the small boat. He senses deep down that this may be the very last time he will be on the water. He is convinced his captors are going to kill him.Greengrass, who directed United 93, Green Zone and The Bourne Ultimatum and Supremacy, sure does know his away around an action film, However, in Captain Phillips, unlike in his other films, he gives his leading man depth, a personality, a real human being (Hanks), who carries the film throughout. Hanks gives the performance of his career, and at the age of 57, having appeared in some of the most successful films of all time, including Oscars for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, his performance here is a revelation. In Captain Phillips, Hanks plays a character almost similar to his character in Philadelphiia; death is imminent – or for Captain Phillips – is it? And in the last 10 minutes of this film, Phillips is very distressed, very emotional, very confused, and in shock, and Hanks’ performance in this scene is the mark of a true action genius. It is this part of the film that seals Hanks as one of the greatest actors of all time. Kudos are also for the actors playing the Somali pirates. They are not just the usual bad guy characters, each of them is completely drawn with their own personality, and not lumped as typical terrorists seen on the big screen nowadays. Actually, the actors who played the pirates auditioned to be in this film in Minneapolis, which has a large Somali community, by responding to a television advert. Abdirahman had been working as a limousine driver, and auditioned and got what is basically the second lead role in the film, behind Hanks.
 
To set the record straight, the real crew members of the Alabama have claimed that this film does not tell the true story. The Chief Engineer of the Alabama, according to CNN, said that Phillips’ recklessness put the ship in pirate-controlled waters. Another engineer claimed that Phillips ignored warnings and set a course through dangerous waters to save time and money. Whatever the facts are, Captain Phillips the movie is one exhilarating ride, with a truly stunning performance by Hanks. Captain Phillips is the film event of the year. Go see it.
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14th Oct2013

London Film Festival – 2013

by timbaros

The 57th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express started on Wednesday October 9 with a stellar line up of films.

Here is a sneak peak of a few of those films.

Opening Night Gala

Captain Phillips – Tom Hanks (Directed by Paul Greengrass)

The first of two films starring Hanks in the festival, the eagerly awaited Captain Phillips has Hanks as the captain of a cargo ship which is hijacked by Somalis. The buzz on this film is that it is Hank’s best performance ever, and that the actors who play the kidnappers are just as good. This will be the film to watch.

Saving Mr. Banks – Tom Hanks (Directed by Lee Hancock)

This is the other film starring Hanks, and is about the making of Mary Poppins, the 1964 film which starred Julie Andrews. Emma Thompson plays PL Travers, the creator of Poppins, while Hanks plays Walt Disney. In this film, Disney asks Travers to come to Hollywood to participate in the development of the screenplay for Poppins.

12 Years A Slave – (Directed by Steve McQueen)

Unknown actor Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon, an accomplished violinist who is living as a free man in New York City but is conned into joining a traveling show and then sold into slavery. Ejiofor is being tipped for the Best Actor Oscar for his performance. 12 Years A Slave is produced by Brad Pitt, who has a small role in the film. Expect awards aplenty for this film.

Gravity- Sandra Bullock and George Clooney (Directed by Alfonso Cuaron)

Cuaron, director of the well-received Pan’s Labyrinth and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, leads heavy duty starts Bullock and Clooney who play astronauts who encounter danger on a mission in space. Expect huge box office for this film.

Labor Day – Kate Winslet (Directed by Jason Reitman)

Winslet, back on the big screen for the first time since 2011’s Contagion, plays the reclusive mother of a sensitive teenager, and is withdrawn and brokenhearted after the breakdown of her marriage. On Labor Day weekend, they meet a wounded man (Josh Brolin), who changes their lives forever.

The Invisible Woman – Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas (Directed by Fiennes)

Fiennes, who directed Coriolanus, stars as Charles Dickens, and tells the story of his affair with a young actress (Felicity Jones), which lasts until his death. Thomas plays the young girl’s mother. The Invisible Woman was written by recent Emmy winner Abi Morgan, who also wrote The Iron Lady.

The Epic of Everest – Directed by John Noel

Another documentary about Mount Everest? Yes, but this one is different. It records the third attempt to climb Everest, which culminated in the deaths of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. This sparked the debate on whether they made it to the top or not. Noel filmed this in brutally harsh conditions to realistically retell this moment in history.

Parkland – Directed by Peter Landesman

Hanks (him again?) produced this film, which recreates the events of November 22, 1963, the day that President John F. Kennedy was shot dead in his motorcade while traveling through downtown Dallas. Featuring an ensemble cast, including Zac Effron, Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti, and Colin Hanks (his son), Parkland tells in detail every single decision that was made that day which would change history.

Kill Your Darlings – Daniel Radcliffe (Directed by John Krokidas)

The hotly anticipated Kill Your Darlings has Radcliffe playing a young Allen Ginsburg. Torn between loyalty to his sick mother and the burgeoning Beat Generation scene of downtown New York City in 1944, Kill Your Darlings follows the trails of Ginsburg as he makes friendships with William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.

These are just some of the highlights as to what is on offer at the festival. For more information, and to buy tickets, please visit http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff.

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