A History of Edits

Devoted and much appreciated readers, I have some good news for you! Having greatly betrayed you last week in forgoing any cinema trip, I have come back with a vengeance this week with not one but TWO viewings, "The Woman In Black" on Friday and "Project X" on Saturday; both interesting case studies for yours truly.

As I'm sure I've mentioned on this blog before, I've only been to the cinema alone once before, to see "Norwegian Wood", the sad tale of a boy who loves his dead best friend's depressed, suicidal girlfriend. Not the best choice to see alone one might think, well I made an even BETTER choice this week and went to see "The Woman In Black" alone and oh my god did it scare me. 

There were several moments when I considered leaving the cinema because I'm not sure that I was really enjoying myself and throughout the second half I was scrunched up on my seat, arms wrapped around my legs, that is, when my hands weren't perched by my ears, ready to cover them as I closed my eyes and hid my senses from what was going on in front of me. That said, this was by no means a bad film, all that I am demonstrating is that it is a bloody scary one. I will admit, however, that this may be the first horror film that I have ever seen in the cinema, or at least that I can remember, and I am not a connoisseur of the genre, I tend to avoid it as a matter of fact.  Therefore, true horror fans, as I am sure they can deduce on their own, should not take this as a sign that they won't be able to handle the fear either, but perhaps they should see this as a recommendation if anything. 

Watching this film, I soon decided that the two components which make the scariest films - for me at least - are children and dolls (or puppets - I still avoid ITV's Ripley and Scuff). What's more, the creepiest setting in all of history is Victorian England. How anyone managed to live at this point and not break down in fear every time that night arrived is beyond me. This film contains all of these factors. It centres around the legend of a "woman in black" (you'd never guess), who haunts a house on the outskirts of a small village near the English coast in the late 19th century. Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliff), a young lawyer and single father, whose wife died in childbirth, is sent to this house, whose owner has recently died, to process all the paper work. In the nearby town he is warned away from the house and as children begin to die and Kipps keeps catching the figure of a women in black in the corner of his eye, he starts to unravel the house's dark secret!

This film does several things very well. One is the aesthetics, the costumes, hair and make up are all done very well and look very gothic and cool in this period setting. The horrific face of the woman in black is very well made up and I truly never wish to see it again. The house is magnificently decked with everything you wouldn't want to encounter in an isolated, dark place: old paintings, cobwebs, children's ancient and decaying toys, a surplus of dolls and puppets, some of whose faces had a little too much life in them for my taste. 

It is also a master at making you jump, whether it be the multiple viewings of the women in black or the dead children, or a crow bursting in through the window, I have not cried out in fright that many times in one film in years. One could argue that you can usually see these moments coming - if ever there is a shot facing Kipps as he walks towards you, something will appear behind him, out of his sight, if ever the camera rests a few moments on a window, someone's face will pop up -, but that doesn't mean they won't scare the bejesus out of you! Seriously, rethinking over this film is making me a bit squeamish. 

There are two scenes in this film which make it a must for horror/ghost/suspense fans. The first is one long scene in which Kipps stays over night in the house - I think everyone was yelling "foolish Daniel!" in their minds when he made that decision -, which probably lasts about 20 minutes but feels like a lifetime, when all the things you don't want to see pop up do. I was so incredibly tense watching this scene and so ridiculously relieved when it was over, that is, until the second of these horrific scenes arrived, the final scene in the house. Kipps spends a further 15 minutes wandering around at night with candles, though luckily this time in the company of Ciaran Hinds, who put me at ease a little (I do love a bit of Ciaran).

"Project X" was considerably more light-hearted than "The Woman in Black", though, at times, also hard to watch. This is the story of Thomas Kubb (Thomas Mann) and his nerdy friends Costa (Oliver Cooper) and JB (Jonathan Daniel Brown) deciding to throw the party of all parties in Thomas' house while his parents are away. The boys want to bring popularity to their obscure group and basically provide an opportunity for lots of sex. Costa, the equivalent of "Superbad"'s Seth (while Thomas is more of an awkward Evan), decides to invite everyone he can AND post a local radio ad AND mention the party on Craig's list, and what Thomas hopes will be 50 a maximum of people turns into about 1,500. What ensues is pure mayhem but also possibly the best, coolest party any high-schooler has ever thrown! There's drugs, booze, a swimming pool, a bouncy castle!!, 12-year-old security guards, a dog on drugs, local celebrities and many, many naked women.

What's brilliant about this film - another of the hand-held camera genre so popular with indie teen films these days - is the authenticity of the characters and the party. The three leads feel like genuine nerds you might meet in an American High School and the party truly looks like 100s of teenagers (and some not so young, creepy men) having an epic night, completely off their heads! The majority of this film is purely one long party, with the occasional angered neighbour and visit from the police. Thomas Kubb achieves what all sweet but obscure teenage boys wants to achieve: he becomes the most popular, legendary kid in school because he throws the best party in living memory. This film is ridiculously fun and makes you wish you could go to such a party - despite the risk of being burnt alive! -, scrap that, makes you wish you could go to THIS party! Me being me, however, there were moments when I was thinking about the accumulating cost of the damages and the danger to so many young people's health. Plus, I just like how the three lead males' names are the same as the actors' :p .

Aaaaalso, I saw the trailer for "Snow White and the Huntsman" when going to see "The Woman in Black" and it looks awesome! Check it out for some olden day, fairy-tale action with a twist and for the beautiful Chris Hemsworth (I'll just ignore Kristen Stewart's presence). I couldn't find the awesome new trailer with Hemsworth's voice over, but this one also looks good...

4 Films Which Give History A... Twist (I am not saying "Top" this time, because some of these films are good and some not so good, it's more about the idea that they edit and rewrite history AND I'm sorry to say I didn't have time to do a fifth film):

Anonymous

To be honest, I don't have much time for people who claim that they don't believe William Shakespeare wrote the plays which carry his name. Such famous figures are always surrounded by conspiracy theories ("one man couldn't have written so many!" - except they're clearly all written by the same person, etc.), it's the same with James Dean, Elvis, Jim Morrison, supposedly they're all still alive! On the other hand, where this film is concerned, the idea that it was Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, who wrote "Romeo and Juliet" and all the classics we know by heart, is not what bothers me. The film claims that de Vere, as a noblemen and married into a wealthy family, would have ruined his reputation had he published the plays himself. Ok, I shall accept this lose theory, there are many who believe, as I said, that Shakespeare was a fraud, but all means, explore this idea. The history that bothers me within this film is the stories around Elizabeth I, her lovers and her illegitimate children. Her known lover, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, is merely sidelined as a conspirator, while almost every other noblemen in the film appears to be an (ex-)lover or illegitimate child of the queen. Though I'm sure she may have had the occasional affair, I think it's a stretch to say that almost the entirety of England's nobility was sired by the Virgin Queen. Plus, when all is said and done, despite the fact that it entertained me greatly, this is a pretty poorly made film, though Rhys Ifans is incredibly cool as de Vere.

Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)

Slater as Churchill

Tagline: "History... Hollywood style!"
I very much enjoyed "Churchill", though I'm sure many critics would argue it's a mediocre film. I think it's a genuinely funny satire, making fun of the American tendency to claim all of history's victories for themselves. In this film, Winston Churchill is an American soldier, who captures the enigma machine for the allies and goes on to save the British monarchy from Adolf Hitler and help win WWII. All the Brits in the film are portrayed as helpless but lovable and the men are often incredibly camp. They'd be nowhere without Winston! There's a pretty good comic British cast going on there, we have Vic and Bob, Harry Enfield, Rick Mayall, Jon Culshaw,  and Eva Braun is played by the wonderful Miranda Richardson!

Gladiator (2000)
I have to be careful when discussing Gladiator in its historical context because I know very little about Roman history at this time (Marcus Aurelius died in 180AD, so the film must start around then). In the film, Aurelius is old and dying and looking for a successor. His son, Commodus, is weak and cruel and not the ideal candidate, so he looks to his loyal general, Maximus, to take over and gradually turn Rome back into a Republic. On discovering this plan, Commodus murders his father and tries and fails to have Maximus murdered too. Maximus must now wage war on the new emperor - with the aid of Commodus' sister, Lucilla - for the good of Rome! In reality, I believe Marcus Aurelius died of an infectious disease and willingly left his empire to Commodus, who was his only surviving child.
Aurelius was, nonetheless, a just and fair ruler and his son proved to be a tyrannical, neurotic and cruel successor, as presented in the film. Commodus' death in the film is at the hands of Maximus, who has been plotting a failed coup against him. Reality was not too different: Commodus was murdered as the result of a conspiracy which resulted in his being strangled whilst taking a bath. He was, however, succeeded by a new emperor, not, as the film suggests, a republic. Despite the changes to the true story, "Gladiator" captures the nature of Rome and its rulers in the 2nd century BC and is a fantastic, exciting film of epic proportions. It is so well made, I believe the alterations are completely justified as Ridley Scott has presented us with one of the greatest cinematic tales ever.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)
This has to be one of my favourite Tarantino films (following closely behind the classic "Reservoir Dogs") and the most... artistic interpretation of Nazi history I have ever seen. The film includes multiple story arches, as is a tradition in Tarantino's works, and revolves around several plots to take down the Nazis and Hitler himself. On the one hand, you have First Lieutenant Aldo Rain (Brad Pitt) and his crew of American-Jewish soldiers, who specialise in torturing scalping, entering German territory on a mission to collect 100 Nazi scalps. They are the "Basterds". We also have the French Shosanna, whose family were killed by Nazis and who now runs a cinema in Paris. She arranges to have the premier of a new Nazi propaganda film, "Nation's Pride", in her venue, where she will be able to trap and murder many top level Nazis. This plot is joined by the Basterds when the British government learns of it and turns in into "Operation Kino", an attempt to kill the Nazi elite, including Hitler, once and for all. This is when the German-speaking, Britsh-chappy Lieutenant Archie Hicox, aka man of my dreams, Michael Fassbender (lets see if I can get to 100 mentions of his name in this blog) to infiltrate the event.

Though based around the events of the Second World War, especially the spread of Nazi influences throughout Europe and the ruthless persecution of the Jews, the main narratives within this film are fictitious. At times one can simply say that the fictitious characters and events don't contradict the true story, that he has just created people and actions that could feasibly fit within what was actually going on. There were many cruel SS leaders, like the character Col. Hans Landa (the Oscar winning Christoph Waltz), many European Jewish families were hidden by friends or neighbours and hunted down by such officials and a big part of the Nazi regime was the propaganda of film. However, the ending - which I don't wish to give away, making this review difficult - completely goes against  all that we know to be true about the end of WWII, contradicting fact to a greater extent perhaps than any other historical film I have ever seen. This did not ruin my enjoyment of the film, it is, in a way, a very interesting take on the historical genre, but it did bring about in me a confusion as to how I feel about what Tarantino has done with a very serious period of history.

Film News 

"21 Jump Street": Out 16th March, this comedy about two undercover cops going back to high school looks incredibly fun, I recommend you check out the trailer! It stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as the two policeman but also, and much more importantly, their boss is played by "Parks and Rec"''s very own Nick Offerman aka Ron Swanson aka one of the many loves of my life!


"Oldboy" remake: They appear to be making an American remake of Park Chan-Wook's "Oldboy" (2003). The new version will be directed by Spike Lee, the lead will be played by Josh Brolin and there are talks for Elizabeth Olson to take on the lead female role. See this Guardian article for more info.

"Sex and the City" prequel: Even though "Sex and the City 2" was the only film bad enough to make me actively get up and leave the cinema, the idea that they are now going to make a "Sex and the City 3", which will be a prequel and probably with an entirely new cast does excite me, because I do love the series. The current favourites for the girls are Elizabeth Olsen as Carrie, Blake Lively as Samantha, Selena Gomez (???) as Charlotte and Emma Roberts as Miranda. See this Guardian article for more information. Clearly, Elizabeth Olsen has decided to remake all of cinema!

Spall About Rafe

I finally got around to watching "Hunger" (2008) this weekend, the first of the McQueen/Fassbender combinations, but also the first film I've seen this week since "Chronicle"! I know, it's shocking, I didn't go to the cinema once last week, but there's so much to do, so many essays to prepare and mock exams to revise for.

"Hunger" is a very interestingly made film, you can tell that its creator is an artist in the traditional sense, as well as a developing director. The film, which shows us the Maze prison in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, focusing on the wash strike and the subsequent second attempt at a hunger strike in 1981, in which leading IRA soldier and ex-MP for Northern Ireland, Bobby Sands, dies. This film is not about dialogue, but about intense, difficult imagery. At the beginning we are supplied with background information in the titles and then the film begins and hits us straight away with prison officer Raymond Lohan checking his car for bombs before he heads off to work, we see his bloodied and cut knuckles, the result of his violent career. Inside the prison we enter when the wash strike is already underway. Introducing us to two specific inmates sharing a cell, we see that the walls are smeared with excrement, the inmates hairy and unwashed, looking like cavemen.  

Bobby Sands' (Michael Fassbender) character is not introduced for the first 20-30 minutes, so labeling it a film about Sands is almost inaccurate. He is one significant part of this serious political movement underway in Ireland in the 1980s, one which had been going on for a long time. Sands is the leading figure in the hunger strike which starts in the second half of the film and we see through him, the horrific effects of this civil war on the Northern Irish people, we are not given a black and white view where we have "IRA bad, government good", nor are the police and the authorities all cruel men (one SWAT officer breaks down in tears as his comrades beat the inmates). Though it does make one question the nature of prison guards and men given power over criminals, as the film is full of harsh beatings and unjust violence against these men, many of whom are weak and cannot defend themselves against the brutality of police bludgeons. Despite the seemingly small role for a protagonist which Fassbender plays, one of the most hard-hitting images of the film is the gradual decay of Bobby throughout the hunger strike. It is not an easy thing to watch and McQueen has in no way glamourised or toned down events, he shows us the most base, most horrifying aspects of 1980s prisons in Northern Ireland and the struggle for independence.

The lack of dialogue does not mean that we are in the dark about the logistics of what is going on. We are supplied, as I said, with the titles at the beginning giving background information, occasional genuine radio clips of Thatcher explaining the government's stance, and one long conversation (a continuous shot) between Sands and his priest friend (Liam Cunningham), also a nationalist, discussing the motives and flaws of the hunger strike. McQueen very skilfully keeps us as in the know as necessary on historical context, while depicting most of his message through images. It is a short film, at just 1 hour 30 minutes, which for a historical drama is unusual, but it does not beat about the bush. The lack of dialogue, the desire to say almost everything through what we see, not what we hear, allows for this brevity. "Hunger" is very different from his newest work, "Shame", which I previously reviewed and expressed my great admiration for as a film, but both show the natural artistic talent of McQueen, who knows how to use imagery better than many of his peers. He is a natural artist as I have said before. I cannot wait for his next collaboration with Fassbender, "Twelve Years A Slave", due out in 2013.
  

I haven't been to the cinema or watched many new films recently, what with all the exams and what not, but I did have a lovely dream the other day about Rafe Spall, so I thought I'd dedicate a section of this post to one of my favourite actors. The only reason I haven't mentioned Rafe before is that, despite his unquestionable talent, charisma, and understated good looks, he hasn't been in a very large amount of films or TV shows. Spall is of course the son of British acting legend, Timothy Spall, or Wormtail from the Harry Potter franchise as many young film watchers will know him.

Spall with Elaine Cassidy in "A Room With A View"

   Rafe's first appearance in a film was in "Beginner's Luck" (2001), aged 18, but the first time I noticed him was in the TV adaption of one of my favourite books, "A Room With A View" in 2007 (written by period drama icon, Andrew Davies). I have this habit of falling in love with actors for playing a part in a film that I have yet to see, when that character is one I already love. For example, I read "The Lovely Bones" before going to see the film and was besotted with Susie Salmon's father, who showed such devotion and despair for his lost daughter. When I saw the cast for the upcoming film and that Mark Wahlberg was to play the part of Jack, I think I fell for Wahlberg even before watching the film, because part of me was convinced he would be brilliant. I don't know why. A similar thing happened when I heard that Rafe Spall had played George Emerson in "A Room With A View". This novel by E.M. Forster contains one of the greatest fictional love stories of all time and George is one of the most romantic and lovable heroes I have ever ecountered (along with Edward Rochester of course). When reading the novel, I imagined Spall as the lead and fell for him while falling for George. Luckily, the film did not disappoint. Though perhaps not as good an adaptation as the Merchant Ivory production, Rafe is the perfect George.

The "Desperate Romantics" (Spall far left)

Since discovering him, I have kept track of Rafe's film and TV career and have gone back to revisit old performances which I missed at the time, such as "The Chatterley Affair" (2006) and "Wide Sargasso Sea" (2006). For me, Rafe is a fantastic actor to follow because the majority of his choices have been period dramas, often depicting books which I have read and enjoyed, such as the above mentioned two, but others also, including 2006's "Dracula" (with Marc Warren as the eponymous vampire!!). "Wide Sargasso Sea"is the prequel to "Jane Eyre" in which Rafe plays a young and inexperienced Edward Rochester, forced into an arranged marriage with the beautiful Antoinette (Rochester's mad first wife from "Jane Eyre", here played by Rebecca Hall), leading to dire consequences. "The Chatterley Affair" is a fictional take on the trial that reintroduced "Lady Chatterley's" lover into the published world. Other fantastic TV appearances from Spall include 2008's "He Kills Coppers", a crime thriller based on the novel by Jake Arnott, along with Spall's portrayal of William Holman Hunt in the hilarious and fun "Desperate Romantics" (2009) series, following three of the leading  Pre-Raphaelites, Hunt, Jonathan Millait and the incorrigible Dante Gabriel Rossetti, their art, their loves and their follies.

More mainstream appearances of Spall which are likely to have caught your attention or at least have a wider audience are both Pegg/Frost collaborations "Shaun of the Dead" (2004) and "Hot Fuzz" (2007). "Shaun of the Dead" is a good one for hard core Spall fans because it is one of his earliest film roles in which many may not recognise him, 21 years old and before he lost a lot of weight. He works with Shaun and is to be seen early on disrespecting Shaun at work and making the well-known comment "you've got some red on you". In "Hot Fuzz" he plays one of the two Andys, along with the awesome Paddy Considine. I am not a fan of "Shaun" I must admit, it does not make me laugh, nor am I a zombie-fanatic, but "Hot Fuzz" is definitely one of my favourite comedies and is based near my beloved home town of Bristol, woo! He also played William Shakespeare in last years "Anonymous" but he is not to be judged on this film which was not the best historical piece I have ever seen. A much better 2011 film to watch for Rafe is "One Day", based on the David Nicholl's novel, in which Spall plays Hathaways' hapless boyfriend. Though not the lead, the Guardian rightly commented that Spall's is one of, if not the best performances in this film. His character is an awkward, uncomfortabley unfunny wannabe comedian, but he's sweet and his heart's in the right place, which is something Spall plays very well.


Spall's best break may be his very own TV comedy, which many of you will know, "Pete Vs Life", in which sports journalist Pete's life is commentated on as he makes mistake after mistake with women and his career. It's an enjoyable, sweet comedy, worth a watch, though not the best thing on TV. I love him because he's a talented, natural actor, he can play a variety of different roles - though he often plays, the sweet innocent, he plays an incredibly dark, twisted, bordering-on-insane mobster in 2011's "The Shadow Line", a gangster thriller with a fantastic cast. He is incredibly personable and has a subtle charisma that shows through on the screen. I went to see him in a stage play a few years back, "Hello and Goodbye", in which he played a young South African man, left alone with his dying father in a tiny, squalid house, with deeply negative effects on his sanity. He was fantastic and it was, as I'm sure you can guess after this rather long rant, incredibly exciting to be in such close proximity to one of my heroes. Furthermore, no female fan can deny that the frequency in which Spall strips off for a role ("A Room With A View", "Wide Sargasso Sea", "The Chatterley Affair", etc.) certainly helps keep your admiration at a peak.

My only problem is that Spall does not seem to be in enough TV shows or films to satiate my addiction! Luckily for me, he is to star in one of the most anticipated, destined-to-be-great, films of the year, alongside another great love of mine, that's right, Michael Fassbender, in Ridley Scott's prequel to "Alien", "Prometheus"! Keep a look out for this film, whose cast and crew combination - when has Scott ever gone wrong? -, plus the subject matter - alien space-battles- alone should have you drooling at the mouth while you await it, before any reviews or critiques arise giving you any solid idea of how well executed the film will be.

Film News
I bought this month's Total Film, which is not a regular buy for me, but I like to have a check what articles are in there, who's being interviewed, what films are being reviewed, what inside scoop they reveal. This month's has "The Hunger Games"' Katniss Everdeen on the front cover and a look at this year's superhero movies and I have been meaning to get more up to date on what is coming out, so I bought a copy and there were some goodies inside...

"Warm Bodies": This is a new zombie film starring Nicholas Hoult as the undead hero, named simpy "R", and based on Isaac Marion's novel of the same title. The story centers around R falling in love with the girlfriend (Teresa Palmer of "I Am Number Four" and "The Sourcorer's Apprentice") of one of his victims. The incredibly cool image of Hoult in Total Film caught my eye straight away and the film is directed by "50/50" director, Jonathan Levine. "Warm Bodies" is due for release on 24th August.

"Dark Shadows": Finally, a new Tim Burton-Johnny Depp combo! No, I'm not even being sarcastic. As you may well know from my previous blogs, I have a special place in my movie-heart for Burton and his personal gothic genre. This films sounds particularly delectable, with Depp starring as Barnabas Collins, an 18th Century fish-canning magnate, turned vampire by a jealous witch (Eva Green), buried alive and then allowed to rise again in 1972, having to adapt to a totally different world. Yes, as I'm sure you're wondering, this film does also star the wonderful Helena Bonham Carter, in an impressive cast including Michelle Pfeiffer (first time reuniting with Burton since "Batman Returns" in 1992), Johnny Lee Miller, Chloe Grace Moretz and a cameo from Alice Cooper! This 8th Burton-Depp collaboration was called by Total Film "a supernatural-gothic-horror-action-comedy" - with that many genres involved, how could it not be entertaining?

Dark Shadows