Rumour mill

Make of this what you will, but a "source" is claiming George Clooney has declared an interest in playing Jack Ryan if and when the Tom Clancy franchise is revived. Well, "this site" says that's a great idea.

Lost talk

A few things that came up in last Friday's Lost talk.

Damon Lindelof ruled out any movie or comic spin-offs once the show ends next year.

Lindelof and fellow executive producer Carlton Cuse said they owed it to the fans to tie up as many loose ends as possible in season six. “We won’t be vague and ambiguous," says Lindelof. "There will be a lot of answers. We feel that if we hold anything back in the final season, it would be bad. Everyone’s come this far and they want a conclusion to the story.”

They promised season six would reunite everyone, would feel “more like series one” and that Smokey would become “an interesting character in and of itself” in the final season.

The pair also ruled out a happy ending. “Bittersweet comes with the territory,” said Lindelof. “The ending we’re aspiring to is fair. The ending of series six will be different from other finales because there will be no cliffhanger.”

Heavy is the crown...

"Kids’ stuff is a thing of the past in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. Suddenly looking quite grown up, the students at Hogwarts are forced to grapple with heavy issues of mortality, memory and loss in this sixth installment in the series of bigscreen adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s Potter tales. Dazzlingly well made and perhaps deliberately less fanciful than the previous entries, this one is played in a mode closer to palpable life-or-death drama than any of the others and is quite effective as such. Delayed by Warner Bros. from a late 2008 release date so as to spread the wealth after The Dark Knight scored so mightily last summer, this Prince is poised to follow its predecessors as one of the year’s two or three top-earning films." So writes Variety's Todd McCarthy.

All grown up

Continuing today's Harry Potter theme. It's Hermione, in case you were wondering. From the August issue of Elle.

Harry Potter interviewed

I missed Friday night's press screening of Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince because of BAFTA's Lost event. Still, here's a Daniel Radcliffe interview to get you in the mood, and an early review from The Guardian.

Frightfest 2009 line-up

Frightfest, the UK's finest horror film festival, has just announced its tenth anniversary line up and, as usual, its a doozy, kicking off with the world premiere of Christopher Smith's Triangle (pictured) and including Dread, Trick R Treat and the remastered (and shouldn't be remade) An American Werewolf In London.

More information about the individual films can be found here. For ticket information click here.

This year's event has moved from London's Odeon West End to the Empire, with not one but two screens showing the best of the current genre crop.

Thursday 27th August
Main Screen
6.30 pm - Triangle
9.15 pm - The Hills Run Red
11.30 pm - Infestation + Deadwalkers

Friday 28th August
Main Screen
11.00am - The Horseman
1.45 pm - Beware The Moon
4.1O pm - An American Werewolf In London - Remastered
7.20 pm - Shadow
9.35pm - The Horde
Midnight - Macabre + Paris By Night Of The Livivng Dead

Discovery Screen
Noon - Best Worst Movie
2.15 pm - I Sell The Dead
4.15 pm - I Think We're Alone Now
6.45 pm - Colin
9.00pm - Black

Saturday 29th August
Main Screen
11.30 am - Smash Cut
1.45 pm - Hierro
3.45 pm - Millennium
7.00 pm - Giallo
9.00 pm - Trick r' Treat
11.15 pm Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl + Sad Case

Discovery Screen
Noon - The Horror of Writing' Competition
1.45 pm - Evil Things
4.15pm - Fragment
6.45 pm - It's Alive
9.00 pm - Pontypool

Sunday 30th August
Main Screen
11.30 am - Dead Snow
1.45 pm - Human Centipede
3.50 pm - Coffin Rock
6.45 pm - Night Of The Demons
9.00 pm - Clive Barker's Dread
11.15 pm - 100 Best Deaths

Discovery Screen
Noon - Black
2.40 pm - Pontypool
5.00 pm - I Think We're Alone Now
7.00 pm - I Sell The Dead
9.00 pm - Best Worst Movie

Monday 31th August
Main Screen
11.00 am - Zombie Women of Satan
1.15pm - The House Of The Devil
3.30 pm - Case 39
6.30pm - Heartless
9.15pm - The Descent Part 2

Discovery Screen
11.00am - Colin
2.15 pm - It's Alive
4.15 pm - Fragment
6.45 pm - Evil Things

Lost in London

Tonight I'm off to a special BAFTA event in which Lost executive producers Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse and Jack Bender discuss the show. Mega excited. Now if only they'll drop some hints about the final season which apparently has been given an extra hour by the folk at ABC to enable them to cram in all that needs to be crammed in.

Steely Dan

I have been a fan of the Dan since I was at school and it was considered very uncool to like them. Last night I saw Becker and Fagen live for the first time and they were sensational. Laugh all you want, but you're wrong.

Karl Malden, 1912-2009

The Informant! trailer

Love this! Particularly the exclamation mark! Tells you all you need to know!

Public Enemies

Was lucky enough to go to the UK premiere of Public Enemies last night and will have my thoughts up here soon. Now, though, I have a deadline calling...

Barking mad

Now, this kind of thing annoys the hell out of me. Remaking An American Werewolf In London? Nothing wrong with the original if you ask me. And do we really need to see yet another CGI werewolf transformation? I think not. John Landis once pitched me his idea for a Werewolf sequel, which I subsequently turned into a Fangoria article, and which I remember being both barking and brilliant. That I would pay to see.

TF2 tops $200m

According to Variety, Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen grossed an estimated $201.2 million at the US box office to score the second best five-day haul ever after The Dark Knight. Over the weekend, TF2 grossed $112 million, after earning $89.2 million in its first two days. In comparison, The Dark Knight grossed $203.8 million in its first five days, although TDK opened on a Friday, while TF2 opened on a Wednesday. That is one heck of a lot of money. But surely I'm not the only one who thinks Bay's not going to be a happy bunny, with TF2 missing out on TDK's record by such a relatively small margin. Then again, these are only studio estimates and can go up as well as down.

More Mann

The New York Times' Mark Harris talks to Michael Mann about Public Enemies.

Here's Johnny...

The Daily Telegraph has an interview with Mr Depp talking about Public Enemies.

The Guardian has a chat with Michael Mann.

Farrah Fawcett, 1947-2009

She was, to men of a certain age, a golden-haired goddess, an Angel, and the woman who married the Six Million Dollar Man. She appeared in a host of films, had what seems from the outside looking in to have been a sometimes turbulent life, and died too young. She wasn't a great actress but she sure made an impression, be it in Logan's Run, The Burning Bed, Charlie's Angels or Saturn 3.

Oh, the anticipation...

I have yet to see Michael Mann's Public Enemies and I'm trying hard to keep my expectations in check. I've been a Mann fan since Manhunter which I was lucky enough to see on its brief, initial theatrical run in the UK, and, say what you like about him, he's never let me down. From Heat to Mohicans, the criminally underrated Ali to The Insider, from the HiDef hues of Collateral and Miami Vice to the stylishly bonkers The Keep (a DVD release, please, Universal!), Mann is one of contemporary cinema's great artistes.

Variety's Todd McCarthy was mixed on Public Enemies. "[Its] results [are] more admirable than electrifying. Centering on bank robber John Dillinger, the most publicized of the many Depression-era outlaws whose transgressions fostered the rise of the FBI, Hollywood's specialist in great-looking crime stories has put images on the screen that are compelling to watch even though the overall impact is muted. Oddly, too, the film is somewhat shortchanged by its great star, Johnny Depp, who disappointingly has chosen to play Dillinger as self-consciously cool rather than earthy and gregarious."

In contrast, Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeff Wells called it "glorious and levitational — the most captivating, beautifully composed and freshly conceived gangster movie since Bonnie and Clyde. It's an art film first, a Mann head-and-heart trip second, a classic machine-gun action pulverizer third, and a conventional popcorn movie fourth."

I can't wait.

What the %$*&

Sid Ganis, president of the American Motion Picture Academy, today announced that from next year's Oscars there will be 10 Best Picture nominees instead of the usual five. Now, while an expanded field would, in the past, probably have meant nominations for such critically acclaimed films such as Zodiac, The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, and Children Of Men (all big favourites of mine you might recall), as well as a spot for those Pixar movies forever snubbed by Academy voters and parceled off into the Best Animated Feature category, it does strike me as a trifle ridiculous to include quite so many. Will the Best Director category be equally bloated? And what if there aren't ten films good enough to warrant being nominated in any particular year? Now there's a thought...

Foul-mouthed Dench

I was tickled by this story which has emerged from the publication of the British Board of Film Classification's annual report and which claimed that, "Every film in which actress Dame Judi Dench swears results in complaints". For it seems that a handful of UK cinemagoers objected to Dench's use of a "minor expletive" in 12A-rated Quantum of Solace. But the complaints, said the BBFC, were "expected". "Almost every time Dame Judi swears in a film, regardless of its category, we can expect a number of complaints," the report claimed.

DVD review: The Unborn (**)

This slickly made if superficial horror from writer-director David S. Goyer — whose credits include Batman Begins and the Blade trilogy — stands as the first original outing from Michael Bay’s remake machine, Platinum Dunes, although there’s so much that’s second-hand about it, it might as well be. Not that The Unborn is all bad. There’s a general air of unease that permeates and pervades the entire picture, and as well as several standout spooky and/or shock moments — the dog with the upside head being the best — but also a plot that defies logic, credibility and, ultimately, one’s patience.

After an admittedly arresting start in which college student Casey (Odette Yustman) — whose pert behind is the film’s only real claim to greatness — encounters a creepy kid and a mask-wearing dog while out jogging, the movie contrives to shoehorn in demonic possession, haunting by your twin who died in the womb, a suicidal mother, and Nazi experimentation during the Holocaust, alongside every horror cliché of the last few decades — Is it a bad dream? Only if the script needs it to be — although there’s a neat twist in that the demon is a dybbuk from Jewish folklore, rather than your typical Christian one. Ultimately it’s all smoke and mirrors, with added J-Horror spookiness, leading to the inevitable anti-climatic finale in which Rabbi Gary Oldman and a multi-faith contingent perform an exorcism on poor, possessed Casey that involves much shouting, wind machines, and the inevitable human casualties.

As with the recent release of The Strangers, “the extended cut not shown in cinemas” selling point doesn’t actually amount to very much extra stuff, with the difference between this version and the theatrical cut less than one minute (51 seconds to be precise), although the deleted scenes do run to a whooping six minutes but are so worthless you understand why they were deleted in the first place. Moreover, the 15 rating illustrates exactly who the movie’s aimed at. Teenagers who like to be scared. But not that scared. Apparently there’s a sequel already in development, which would presumably be titled either The Born or The Reborn. This, alas, is mostly stillborn. Exorcist lite.

"Ja, ja, ja!"

The word from Cannes on Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds was mixed, but this second trailer actually makes me want to see it. As I've said before, Tarantino lost me a long time ago, although on the strength of this alone, I'm prepared to give him another shot.

Burton's Batman

'Twas 20 years ago this week that Batman hit cinemas. How time flies.

Even more Alice

Yesterday's photos of the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen, and the White Queen (which I didn't post for some reason), along with these new ones of Tweedledum and Tweedledee and Alice herself, will be appearing as posters in cinemas in the US very soon. As early as next week in fact. Expect them on ebay swiftly thereafter. And I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some footage soon.

Alice In Wonderland sneak

USA Today has posted some wonderful Alice In Wonderland photographs and artwork which is part of a touring Alice exhibition that I got a sneak preview of the week before last, and which give a real flavour of what Tim Burton's got in store for you. And if you think Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen look freaky in those photos, I can tell you they look even more so in the flesh.

The Hurt Locker. In brief

Best film I've seen all year. Totally compelling.

Finally...

Seeing The Hurt Locker tonight which I missed the film at Venice last year and which I have heard only good things about it. Although she's sometimes hit and miss, I remain a big Kathryn Bigelow fan. When's she on it, as with Point Break, Near Dark, and Strange Days, she's up there with the best of them.

It's a remaakkke!!!

I'm not normally opposed to remakes. Far from it, in fact. I just wish they were better than they inevitably turn out to be. But, having said that, there are some films that one really shouldn't touch. Citizen Kane. Don't Look Now (although, apparently, someone's trying). Psycho (I know someone remade that already, but that's my point).

I would add James Whale's Bride Of Frankenstein to that list which is pretty much a perfect movie in my humble opinion.

And yet Universal has been trying to remake it for a few years now. What with their new Wolfman coming in November, and a Creature From The Black Lagoon redo on the cards, it was a no-brainer that they'd get round to remaking Bride, a further piece in their attempt to resurrect their classic Universal Horror stable. (It could be worst, I suppose. They could have hired Steve Sommers.)

According to this article in Hollywood Reporter, Neil Burger, writer-director of The Illusionist, has come onboard to helm.

I wish him luck. I really do. Although, equally, I wish he (or rather they) wouldn't bother.

Credit where credit's due

The script for Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen is credited to Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, based on Hasbro's Transformers action figures, but the Fallen was actually created by British comic writer Simon Furman for Transformers: War Within The Dark Ages issue one published by Dreamwave in 2003.

Does he get a credit on the movie? A thank you? Does he heck. That's Hollywood for you.

Titter me not

I saw this trailer before Terminator Salvation the other week and didn't laugh once. Didn't even crack a smile. To think Harold Ramis was responsible for Groundhog Day, one of my favourite movies of all time.

Film review: Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen (**)

Big dumb fun.

That’s Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen in a nutshell.

Featuring more robots, more explosions, more, ahem, Bayhem than before, this is less a sequel to 2007’s summer blockbuster than it is an assault on the senses, a rollercoaster ride determined to pulverise the viewer into submission and bring about much enjoyment, delight, entertainment, amusement, etc. And while in that it largely succeeds, come the end, I was so exhausted I felt I’d gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson, the majority of them pinned to the ropes, being pummelled and pounded.

Midway through the desert climax — an extraordinary accumulation of grandiose action sequences that, all told, lasts somewhere between 30-40 minutes and involves Autobots, Decepticons, the US military, fighter planes, warships, missiles, and John Tuturro scaling a pyramid, as well as countless shots of Shia LaBeouf and his smokin’ hot babe Megan Fox running in slo-mo — I found myself riveted to my seat in awe. Not so much at the spectacle on display (undeniably impressive though it is, and shot partially in IMAX) but at the process itself, and the logistics behind it. How do you even begin to orchestrate action on this grand scale, I found myself wondering. This isn’t filmmaking, I thought, this is war.


Freed of the need to tease the transformers for the first third of the movie, this sequel places Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream and newcomer The Fallen front and centre, fighting, flying, joking (well, sort of), chatting on skyscrapers, in outer space, even taking in the view from atop the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as beating the metallic crap out of one another. It’s a shame that the movie doesn’t bother to really introduce them properly, presenting a host of new Autobots and Decepticons familiar only to those who’ve read a) the script or b) are complete fanboys.

The plot, such as it is, begins 17,000 BC before switching to modern day LA where LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky is about to head off to college when he discovers a slice of the Allspark that’s unwittingly been in his possession since the last movie, a piece of metal that contains important information regarding the whereabouts of a gigantic machine hidden that will suck out the sun and kill mankind, information that’s buried itself deep with LaBeouf’s noggin. In all honesty, the plot’s both ridiculously convoluted and incredibly simplistic, but is just an excuse for Bay to string together one delirious action sequence after another after another — from an opening street battle in Shanghai, to a rumble in the jungle (ok forest) between Optimus and a clutch of Decepticons, to the final showdown amongst the Pyramids.


This has always been Bay raison d’etre. From Bad Boys to Armageddon to Pearl Harbour (all of which are visually referenced), Bay blows stuff up better than anyone working today. No one else could have directed this movie, and for all his faults, Bay knows how to choreograph his action spectacularly and coherently, and, unlike so many of his contemporaries, doesn’t feel the need to cut it to the point of inducing epilepsy in his audience. There’s chaos and carnage, and yet Bay lays it out in front of you in a manner that’s both exhilarating and penetrable.

There are the usual Bay flourishes, including his trademark up angle hero shot and endless Steadicam swirl around two people. There’s even a Bad Boys 2 poster on the wall of LaBeouf’s Princeton dorm room — alongside one for Cloverfield — a dorm that’s filled with the hottest female students known to man, all parading up and down the corridor in the skimpiest outfits imaginable. Bay, quite clearly, likes them plastic, pneumatic and glistening. And let’s not even get started on the Princeton frat party LaBeouf attends, albeit briefly. Gratuitous? Hell yeah. Fox’s Mikaela, meanwhile, is given even less to do than before, her role amounting to straddling a motorbike wearing a pair of denim shorts and boots, running about in heels, and pouting her bee stung lips in a manner that wouldn’t be out of place in a porn film.


If I was ten years old, this would be the Greatest Movie Ever — certainly since the first Transformers. It’s never less than entertaining, although at two-and-a-half hours plus, it could do with a trim or two. That said, the CGI robot work is even more impressive than before, but would it hurt to slow the transformations themselves down a bit so we see just how cool they are.

On a side note, although Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen premiered last week in Tokyo, it wasn’t the final print. The audience at the London screening I attended on Friday night was the first to see the completed movie, and British audiences will actually get to see the film from June 19, five days before the US.