THE DARK KNIGHT RISES: What I liked

Following on from my previous post on The Dark Knight Rises (and a lengthy facebook discussion), I realised I left out a few things I liked or enjoyed about Nolan's trilogy capping film. I have a tendency to do this I think; to become too critical and focus on what doesn't work with something. So, I wanted to offer, not a counterpoint, but a balancing post.

Needless to say, this will be getting spoilery too. 

So, here's some things I enjoyed in the film:

• Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle. While never directly named Catwoman in the film, we all know who she is. And Hathaway was a marvel in the role. She alternated between fierce and a fake vulnerability with ease. She was sexy while never being just a sexual object. 

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt's good, honest Officer Blake. He projects so much, with so little movement. While he nor Hathaway reach the incendiary highs of Ledger's Joker they are the shining, stand-outs this go around. 

• Michael Caine's Alfred is still the heart and cockney soul of the films. 

• Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane popping back up. I really love that he's made it through all three films. Surely the only villain to do so in consecutive comic-book films?

• That, despite the themes not entirely gelling together or engaging, the fact that Nolan & Co. once again reached for something more than a man running around punching things in a rubber suit. 

• That, intentional or not, the final bit in the final action scene with Batman towing the bomb around Gotham reminded me of this: 

Why I love movies

There was an article put up over at BadassDigest a few months ago by the FilmCrit Hulk about why he loves movies. It's a pretty great list and there's even more positive greatness in the comments section (how many times can you say that about an internet article?) and you should totally read it. After seeing The Good, the Bad & the Ugly at a screening last week it got me thinking again about all of the things that make me love movies. I'd also love to hear from anyone who wants to comment as to why they love movies - what is it about them that fuels your passion; that makes you want to watch everything, or make movies or just talk about them.

So here, in incomplete form, is why I love movies:

Because of Eli Wallach's run through the graveyard in The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Because of Eli Wallach's introduction in The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Because of Eli Wallach in The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Because of Grace Kelly

Because of Lauren Bacall

Because of Bogie

Because of Cary Grant

Because of Ed Wood

Because of Ed Wood

Because I have been lucky enough to see the following classic films, for the first time, on the big screen: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Once Upon a Time in America, An American Werewolf in London, Manhattan, Badlands, Lawrence of Arabia, Steamboat Bill Jr, The Lost World, Bambi, Metropolis, Touch of Evil, The Adventures of Robin Hood, It Happened One Night, The Asphalt Jungle, Rebel Without a Cause, In a Lonely Place, The Big Sleep, The African Queen, North by Northwest, The Freshman, Safety Last, M, Singin' in the Rain, Blue Velvet, A Streetcar Named Desire, Gone With the Wind and The Apartment

Because I've also been lucky enough to see these classics on the big screen: Alien, Die Hard, The General, Gojira, Taxi Driver, Blade Runner, The Sound of Music, Rocky, 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Jurassic Park, Enter the Dragon and Some Like it Hot

Because of the little kid who got freaked out in a screening of the silent horror classic The Cat & the Canary and the rest of the audience knowing exactly what that felt like

Because of live cinema events

Because of the Back to the Future triple feature at the Embassy Theatre earlier this year

Because of the New Zealand International Film Festival, every year

Because seeing a movie in the cinema is still the best way to experience it

Because I cry like a little child at the end of The Iron Giant every. damn. time.

Because of the FilmCrit Hulk and how he has made me a better film watcher and writer

Because of those great soundtracks and themes that call to mind entire films with a few chords

Because of the work of Drew Struzan, Richard Amsel, Renato Casaro, Vic Fair and other amazing poster artists (check out the astounding Film on Paper)

Because of Mondo

Because of The American Astronaut, Rejected, Boy A, Donnie Darko, Winter's Bone, Cell 211, A Town Called Panic, Milocrorze: A Love Story and many more great, surprising and astounding films I've seen at film festivals

Because of Fantastic Fest

Because they combine visual, aural and chronal components in a way no other art-form can

Because of Terrence Malick

Because of Edgar Wright

Because of P.T. Anderson

Because of Paul Verhoeven

Because of David Lynch

Because of Martin Scorsese

Because of Steven Soderbergh

Because the Coen Brothers, Quentin Tarantino and Diablo Cody all continue to make dialogue better

Because Sigourney Weaver rising four feet above the covers in Ghostbusters made me hide behind the couch as a kid

Because I had a VHS with RoboCop and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when I was a kid and it blew my mind

Because of the enthusiastic first night crowds I saw Spider-Man, X-Men 2 and The Avengers with

Because Rocky and First Blood are actually really, really good (also Conan The Barbarian)

Because of film noir

Because of Danger: Diabolik

Because of Jim Henson

Because of Buster Keaton

Because of Jackie Chan

Because of Arnie

Because of Marilyn Monroe

Because "Nobody's perfect!"

Because of Matthew McConaughy talking entirely in grunts in Reign of Fire

Because the first reveal of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park is still awe-inspiring

Because of stop-motion

Because of musicals

Because of the musical numbers, car chases and massive pile up in The Blues Brothers

Because, back in 1999, The Matrix blew my freaking mind

Because I've subsequently had my mind blown by There Will be Blood, The Fountain, Badlands, Animal Kingdom

Because, even now, when I see a truly drop-dead phenomenal film I feel it as a very physical thing

Because High Fidelity has helped me through some rough times

Because movies can still utterly destroy me and leave me a quivering, emotional wreck

Because movies can still utterly destroy me and leave me a laughing, gasping mess

Because there's trash and masterpieces... and sometimes they're the same film

Because of movie days/nights with my friends

Because of movie marathons

Because they're my autobiography

Because every single year sees the release of more amazing and surprising films that get added to my absolute favourites list

Because I still have so many great films to see

UPDATES:

Because Back to the Future is a perfect film in every aspect

Because of Christopher Reeve in Superman

Because The Princess Bride is still gloriously romantic and adventurous and hilarious and a little bizarre

Because of Bruno Lawrence in Utu

Because Gordon's alive!

Because of the school holidays I spent watching Hot Shots Part Deux! At least 15 times in 2 weeks

Because of Jimmy Stewart

Because of the cult of Bruce Campbell

Because I've seen Dirty Dancing a few times and I still don't get it. But I see why others do

STATE OF THE BLOG

To all those still reading, 

I just wanted to take a quick moment, a very quick moment, to address the current state of rockets and robots are GO! As you may have noticed, there hasn't been a new post on here for a while. For a rather longer than intended while in fact. And this state of affairs is not down to me not having anything to write about - I still have a number of films from the World Cinema Showcase that I haven't written up yet. No. I am, perhaps for the first time, too busy to dedicate all of the energy I would like to this blog. 

And frankly, it's really damned awesome that I'm too busy. As I'm sure I've mentioned I am currently working towards my Masters in Scriptwriting this year. It's been a fairly full-on course so far and things are really just starting to ramp up. And I love it. But damn things are hectically busy at the moment, in this totally different sphere of my writing right now.

I'll still try to write about every film I see in a cinema during the year. That's my stated mission goal for this blog and I intend to stick with it. I'm not entirely sure what form these pieces will end up taking, but they will be there. For now though, this corner of my writing world needs to take a back seat. I've got a huge amount of work and I feel it is absolutely essential that I focus on that for now.

There might be some slow down, but I'll still be here.

Thanks for reading,

Andy

IN APPRECIATION OF... GOING TO THE MOVIES

The interior of the El Capitan theatre in LA

A couple of things prompted me to compose this entry in my In Appreciation of... series. There is the constant state of flux the cinema distribution and exhibition industry seems to find itself in at the moment. There is the constant improvement of home entertainment options. There is the increasing presence of digital projection in cinemas and the decreasing presence of 35mm presentations. There is the screening of Hugo I attended, which is a beautiful re-awakening of the love of cinema. Recently there was an article by the Film Crit Hulk on what he loves about cinema, which was followed up by a similar article from Quint at Ain't it Cool News. And there are the numerous films that, every year, I am desperate to see on general release here in NZ but that instead head straight to DVD.

To me, absolutely nothing beats seeing a movie in a cinema. I have never downloaded a movie in my life. Not only because of the moral issues I have with it (and I do), but because I would rather see a film how it was meant to be seen: on a big screen, with an audience.

There is something almost indefinable and special about watching a movie in the cinema, with an appreciative audience. It is akin to experiencing a live concert rather than listening to a CD at home or attending a game or match instead of watching it at home on TV. There is something about experiencing an event - cinema, concert, game - with a crowd that makes it electric. These types of experiences go right to the core of something inside all of us; inside every person. The connection that seems to pass through a crowd, all sharing in something together; experiencing the same highs and lows. It can only be replicated to a smaller degree at home.

Yes, I love films. But I also love cinemas. Where possible, I avoid the multiplexes and this post is not focussed on them. No, they give the bare minimum of the experience with, often as not, barely competent staff, hollow & impersonal architecture and lousy texting & talking patrons. This is, of course, a gross over generalisation but one that I have found to be true time and again.

Ceiling detail from the Roxy Cinema

However, we are lucky enough in Wellington, to have a number of fantastic "boutique", "art-house" or "independent" cinemas. Each of them offer something different and altogether something more. Whether it be the largely art-house and independent fare at the Paramount (Wellington's oldest cinema); the big, beautiful screen and the newly refurbished downstairs bar area at the Embassy; the mind-blowing love and attention to detail poured into the Roxy Cinema in Miramar, which looks like a cinema you would find it Fritz Lang's Metropolis; or the welcoming cafes and atmospheres at Island Bay's Empire Cinema, Brooklyn's Penthouse Cinema or Petone's Lighthouse Cinema. These are all wonderful places to wrap yourself in the darkness and fall into the worlds on screen.

A night out at the movies used to be more of an event; it was something people got dressed up for, queued for and made an evening of. This sense of occasion has somewhat abandoned the movies, with the rise of the multiplexes and their blockbuster fare, not to mention the increased ticket prices and overall costs involved with having a night out. But I still love it - even if it is just to watch various things explode while munching down over-salted popcorn with a crowd of hyper-sugared-up teens.

All of this is a rather over-long way of saying, in this age of downloading (whether legal or illegal) and better home-entertainments systems & options I remain resolutely in love with a night-out at the movies. I love watching small, intimate films in a cinema as much as I love watching action-packed explosion-fests; the cinema screen is not just a way to watch explosions in the highest definition possible. You never laugh harder, scream higher or cheer louder than when you experience a film with a packed cinema audience, all of you responding to what's on the screen.

The vast, vast majority of my movie watching related memories are ensconced within the cinema. I'll happily watch 35mm prints that are showing their age and crisp new digital projections that ring clear as a bell. I can only sincerely hope these picture palaces are still around for me to share with any future generations. 

OOOOH... SNAP(S)!

Just before I left on my Fantastic Fest trip, I bought myself a new camera. A Canon SX30IS, it's not a fancy SLR type or anything, merely a "point-and-shoot". But it is a very, very good point-and-shoot and over the last couple of months I've been playing around with it, trying to get the best use of it. I've taken to wandering around my local suburb (possibly the beginning of a larger project there) and snapping some photos. I had an emphasis on playing around with the focus, foregrounding and backgrounding different aspects and, overall, just trying to capture something other than a snapshot.

What follows are a selection of photos I am suitably unembarrassed by to share. None of these have been colour corrected or touched up in Photoshop (or similar). 

Inside/outside

Flowers in the gutter

My camera has a pretty phenomenal zoom, so I enjoyed 

playing around with that to get some really tight shots

off small objects

Not to be.

I love the strange things you can find anywhere

Comings and goings at Wellington harbour

My home town. I love shots of Wellington city.

My hope is that these are the start of a larger project. If any fellow photographers (Chris? Sarah-Rose?) want to provide any feedback, it would be more than welcome. 

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS: SEQUEL THOUGHTS

I'll be the first to admit that this post is little more than a bit of fan wank, but X-Men: First Class was one of the better comic-book movies this year and, with the recent DVD/Blu-Ray release I wanted to get some thoughts down on any possible sequel. 

It should be noted that the studio behind the X-Men films, Fox, have not stated whether they will be going ahead with a sequel to the prequel (what do you even call that?!). Hopefully they've merely been waiting for all of us to plonk out our hard-earned cash for the DVD/Blu* before they go ahead with the greenlight.

Ok! Let's get presequelling up in here!

The first (and second) things I'd love to have for a First Class sequel (Second Class?) would be director Matthew Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman back. This dynamic duo were a large part of why this film worked in the first place (the fact it worked at all, let alone really well is a testament to their awesomeness) and to think of a sequel without them... well, that kinda sucks already.

More support from the studio would also be key to creating a successful sequel. By that, I mean more lead time given to the production/post-production. X-Men: First Class had a ridiculously truncated production period (which may have worked for it, forcing Vaughn to go with his gut rather than overthink things). The first lot of advertising for this blockbuster summer release didn't even hit until early this year! Usually studios are pimping their tent-pole films a year or more in advance (case in point: next years The Avengers has not only had Comic-Con presence, it's already had a teaser trailer attached to Captain America and a recently released trailer). In addition, the promotional material for the film was largely crap (who can forget the truly awful posters with James McAvoy's floaty head in Xavier's wheelchair-bound crotch?), so that aspect would need to be revised too.

For the film itself my main concerns would be that it didn't get packed unnecessarily with new mutants. One of the (many, many) failings of X-Men 3 was the simple fact that it became overstuffed with X-cameos; what the hell was the point of Angel (aka Warren Worthington II) in that film? Compare that with the inclusion of Nightcrawler in X-Men 2 (and the removal of a couple of uselss mutants such as Sabretooth and Toad). Hopefully, with a sequel to First Class they can largely avoid this trap, as the mutant race is still in its infancy. That being said I also hope they don't ditch all the mutants from the first class either.

I would also hope Xavier isn't taken out in the early stages of the conflict (see X-Men 1 - 3). You can see why the filmmakers decided upon this for each film - his mental powers are pretty all-powerful and he's crippled so can't really get up to too much traditional action. However, I would hope Vaughn/Goldman can come up with some exciting, intriguing stuff the young Professor could get up to on the battlefield. While, with his telepathy, he could take on an overall strategic view it would also be great to see a guy in a wheelchair kicking ass, right?

And lastly, I would love to see a greater exploration of the Xavier/Raven/Erik dynamic. I thought the Xavier/Raven relationship was one of the more intriguing tweaks on the X-mythos in First Class and McAvoy and Fassbender are too good not to have bouncing off one another again. While the corruption of their friendship felt a bit rushed in an effor to make First Class fit in established continuity, I think writers like Vaughn and Goldman could still work some great mileage from it.

Ok. So, that was some random blogger's thoughts on a possible sequel to a modestly succesful prequel to a film franchise that may have a fourth sequel greenlit. Thanks for reading and, yes, I do have X-characters I'd love to see in a sequel but I'll leave that to list making sites.

*on a side-note: I understand the reasoning the studios have for loading their Blu-Ray releases with far more content than their DVDs for the same film, I'm just getting a little pissed at it. Even when I had a full-time job I didn't have the spare cash to fork out for a Blu-Ray player, let alone the HD capable TV I would need to receive the full advantage of the format.