2013 Lammy Awards

As most, or all of you will know, the 2013 Lammy Awards have entered their final stage. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support and interaction on Marked Movies and to those that were kind enough to vote for me in the submission stage. As a result, I’ve now made it to the nomination stage in my first full year of blogging and I can’t tell you all how happy and honoured I am to be considered amongst so many great sites. This would never have happened if it wasn’t for the warmth and encouragement from so many of you out there and for that I’m entirely grateful.

When the nominations were announced on the Lambcast and my beloved feature Tuesday’s Trivia Tidbits didn’t make the cut in Best Running Feature, I went through the 5 stages of grief…

Denial…

Anger…

Bargaining…

Depression…

Acceptance…

I came to accept, when I realised that I had been included in the nominations for Best Reviewer (one which I didn’t expect at all) and for Best New Lamb. These are two very strong and reputable categories to be involved in and here’s hoping I can go that one step further when the winners are announced in May after the close of ballot on April 30th.

Not only would I like to thank everyone for their support but I’d also like to wish my fellow nominees the very best of luck. It’s an honour to be included amongst you all.

Mark

Sightseers * * * *

Director: Ben Wheatley.
Screenplay: Steve Oram, Alice Lowe.
Starring: Steve Oram, Alice Lowe, Eileen Davies, Richard Glover, Monica Dolan, Jonathan Aris, Richard Lumsden, Tony Way, Rachel Austin, Gareth Jones.

After the dark crime thriller “Kill List” in 2011, writer/director Ben Wheatley has decided on a slightly lighter approach for his follow-up. Just ‘slightly’ mind you, as the premise of this tale is equally as dark and deranged. However, it does contain a lot of humour and will most likely remain one of the blackest comedies all year. It’s also confirmation that Wheatley is definitely a talent to watch.

After accidentally killing her mother’s beloved dog with a knitting needle Tina (Alice Lowe), makes a decision to leave her domineering mother and go on a caravan holiday with her new boyfriend Chris (Steve Oram). What Tina doesn’t know is that Chris has a penchant for killing people who upset him. Tina soon becomes influenced by him and as they tour the English countryside, they leaves bodies in their wake at the camp sites, museums and tourist destinations that they visit.

After a brief introduction to our travelling odd-couple, Wheatley gets down to his turgid roadtrip where all manner of darkness ensues. Despite the, blacker-than-black, nature of the story he infuses it with a deadpan humour that counterbalances the events, disturbed behaviour and thought processes of the characters. After casually and callously despatching of unsuspecting, innocent victims our couple share their thoughts and warped sense of justification; at one point over dinner Tina suggests that “by reducing their life span you’re reducing their omissions“, to which Chris responds “so what you mean is… murder is green? I never thought of it like that“. Tina is also a character who likes to have intercourse while sticking her face in a bowl of pot-pourri and wearing hand-knitted, crotchless lingerie. These are just a couple of examples of their deluded outlook and off-the-wall behaviour. Believe me, there are plenty more on their travels. What aids the film immeasurably is the two superb central performances from Steve Oram and Alice Lowe who also happen to have written the screenplay. While playing out their own characters, it shows that they fully understand the material and what’s required to make them three dimensional. Meanwhile, Wheatley handles the extreme shifts in tone with absolute ease. There are some genuinely, hilarious moments that are coupled with a very twisted nature. For a film to have you laughing at it’s darkness, is a testament to all involved here. Black comedies don’t come much darker than this.

Having proved beforehand with “Kill List” that he could craft a sense of realism imbued with absolute horror. This time, Ben Wheatley shows excellent skill in balancing humour with an altogether different kind of horror and lunacy. It has been compared to the likes of “Natural Born Killers” and Mike Leigh’s “Nuts In May” but I’d refer to this thoroughly rewarding little treat, as “Badlands” in the Midlands.

Mark Walker

TUESDAY’S TRIVIA TIDBITS

Welcome back to Tuesday’s Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I will be posting weekly and info that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…

1: Director Martin Scorsese’s first choice for the role of Sam Bowden in “Cape Fear” was Harrison Ford. He had Robert DeNiro call Ford to try convincing him to take the part. Robert Redford was also considered before Nick Nolte eventually took the role.

2: In “Cinderella Man“, professional boxers played Jimmy Braddock’s (Russell Crowe’s) opponents. They were told to land their blows as close to Crowe’s body as possible. Unfortunately, they sometimes couldn’t pull back in time and ended up injuring the actor.

3: The scene in “The 40 Year Old Virgin” where Andy (Steve Carell) has his chest hair removed required five cameras set up for the shot. Carell’s chest hair was actually ripped out in the scene. The actor had told director Judd Apatow just before shooting the scene: “It has to be real. It won’t be as funny if it’s mocked up or if it’s special effect. You have to see that this is really happening.” The scene had to be done in one shot.

4: So disappointed was he by the poor reception of “The Night Of The Hunter” on its initial release both critically and commercially, Charles Laughton vowed never to direct a film again, and he never did. The film he was planning to direct next was going to be a screen adaptation of “The Naked And The Dead.“

5: In Derek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine“, the scenes in the ‘past’ when Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) are falling in love were shot first, in three weeks. After this Gosling and Williams spent a month together in a rented house to age themselves in preparation for the ‘present’ scenes. They spent a lot of their time grocery shopping, cooking dinner and learning to pick fights with each other.

6: On October 17, 2006, Wesley Snipes was indicted on eight counts of tax fraud. He was ultimately found guilty and sentenced in April, 2008, to three years imprisonment. It was determined that he had not filed federal income tax returns from 1999 to 2007 and owed the IRS approximately $20,000,000 in back taxes. On the day he was sentenced, he paid $5,000,000 to the IRS.

7: Ewan McGregor, Christian Bale, and John Leguizamo auditioned for the role of Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo & Juliet“, before Luhrman decided to make Mercutio black and cast Harold Perrineau, Jr instead. Benicio Del Toro was also considered for the part of Tybalt before Leguizamo took that role.

8: On the first day of shooting his film debut in “Mrs Brown“, Gerard Butler had to run naked into a freezing sea and, as a result, developed hypothermia. Later during the filming, he saved a young boy from drowning in the River Tay, Scotland and received a Certificate Of Bravery from The Royal Humane Society.

9: During the filming of “The Birds“, Tippi Hedren’s daughter Melanie Griffith was given a present by Alfred Hitchcock: a doll that looked exactly and eerily like Hedren. The creepiness was compounded by the ornate wooden box it came in, which a young Griffith took to be a coffin.

10: The scene at the beginning of “Apocalypse Now” with Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) alone in his hotel room was completely unscripted. Sheen told the shooting crew to just let the cameras roll and he was actually drunk in the scene and punched the mirror which was real glass. Sheen also began sobbing and tried to attack Francis Ford Coppola. The crew was so disturbed by his actions that they wanted to stop shooting, but Coppola wanted to keep the cameras going.

Unfortunately, there will be no Trivia Tidbits next Tuesday or for the short, foreseeable future as it’s at this time that I will be stepping back from this feature and regrouping. Having just missed out on a 2013 Lammy nomination for this, I have decided that fresh material is required. If you must know my true feelings, then the picture of Martin Sheen (above) should suffice in conveying my dismay and despair.

Don’t threat, though, the feature will return in time, when I have researched more and can come back with more material for you all to enjoy. Until next time, the curtains of Tuesday’s Trivia Tidbits have now drawn but in the meantime you can still check out earlier editions that you may have missed.

Just click here.

Welcome To The Punch * * 1/2

Director: Eran Creevy.
Screenplay: Eran Creevy.
Starring: James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Peter Mullan, Johnny Harris, David Morrissey, Andrea Riseborough, Daniel Mays, Jason Flemyng, Daniel Kaluuya, Elyes Gabel, Ruth Sheen, Steve Oram.

This film marks the start of a trilogy of UK ventures from actor James McAvoy in 2013. It was released practically back to back with Danny Boyle’s “Trance” and an adaptation of the Irvine Welsh novel “Filth” will complete McAvoy’s year. Let’s just say that he hasn’t got off to the best of starts with this one.

During the pursuit of master criminal
Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong), doggedly determined policeman Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy) is shot in the leg which allows Sternwood to escape. Now disgraced within his precinct, Lewinsky believes he will never get the chance bring Sternwood to justice. That is, until Sterenwood is forced out of hiding to return to London from his Icelandic hideaway and hunt down the man responsible for shooting his son. Lewinsky is given the perfect opportunity to rescue his reputation but he also uncovers a deeper conspiracy involved.

I’ve said it countless times before but I’m afraid I’m going to have to say it again; I’m not a massive fan of the action genre. I find it all a bit hollow and the story and logic always suffer for the sake of set-pieces and excitement. This has that very same problem. The reason I went into this was for the actors and the curiosity of how a British made movie, in this genre, could compete in terms with the U.S. At least, on both these accounts, I wasn’t disappointed. McAvoy, once again, proves his leading man credentials with fine support by Mark Strong and British character actors like Peter Mullan, David Morrissey and Johnny Harris. The film’s, near futuristic, look and gritty feel is also perfectly fitting and for a change, a British action movie handles itself just as well as any other. However, it’s ultimately no different from the mind-numbing, generic dross that this genre so often delivers and the plot, as expected, has holes aplenty. In fact, they are so wide, they are actually quite offensive. Despite it trying to play clever and keep it’s cards close to it’s chest, it’s all rather predictable and leaves you with the feeling that you’ve just wasted your time. Eran Creevy does well, in the directing stakes and conducts his action set-pieces with impressive ease but his script has more creeks and holes than his protagonist’s dodgy knee. If it wasn’t for the committed actors and the neon-infused cinematography by Ed Wild, this would be a complete write-off.

With a better script and more respect for the audience this could have been a lot better. Sadly, it has neither of these and carries so much self-indulgence it would be more aptly titled… Welcome to the Paunch.

Mark Walker

TUESDAY’S TRIVIA TIDBITS

Welcome back to Tuesday’s Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I will be posting weekly and info that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…

1: In “Saturday Night Fever“, in Tony’s (John Travolta) bedroom there’s a poster for “Rocky“, a film directed by John G. Avildsen. The sequel to this film, “Staying Alive“, was written and directed by the star of “Rocky“, Sylvester Stallone. In fact, Avildsen was the original director of this film but was fired by producer Robert Stigwood shortly before principal photography began due to “creative differences”. John Badham was approached to fill in at the last minute. Tony also has a poster for “Serpico” on his wall. Avildsen was originally considered to direct that film as well, but left the project due to “creative differences.”

2: The three main characters in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” are named after dogs. Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) was named after screenwriter Willard Huyck’s dog, Willie (Kate Capshaw) is named after Steven Spielberg’s dog and Indiana (Harrison Ford) is named after George Lucas’s dog.

3: Kiefer Sutherland is named after Warren Kiefer, pen name of Lorenzo Sabatini. Sabatini directed “Il castello dei morti vivi“, in which his father Donald Sutherland made his theatrical film debut.

4: Anjelica Huston was offered the leading role of Annie Wilkes in “Misery” and was interested, but was unable to accept it due to her commitment to “The Grifters“. Bette Midler also turned the role down before it went to Kathy Bates.

5: In the closing credits of “Jackie Brown“, Quentin Tarantino gives special thanks to “Bert D’Angelo’s Daughter”. In the late 70′s, Paul Sorvino starred in a TV detective show, “Bert D’Angelo/Superstar“. Thus “Bert D’Angelo’s Daughter” is Paul’s daughter and Tarantino’s girlfriend (at the time) Mira Sorvino. Sorvino can actually be seen (out of focus) in a brief court room scene.

6: The original director of “Malcolm X” was going to be Norman Jewison but he had to withdraw from the project due to outside pressure demanding that the subject be made by a black film-maker. At one point Oliver Stone also expressed interest in directing it as a follow-up to “JFK“; Stone’s first choice was Denzel Washington, who went on to star in the title role when Spike Lee came on board as director.

7: The part of John Keating (Robin Williams’ role) in “Dead Poet’s Society“, was once intended for Dustin Hoffman. The film was also going to be Hoffman’s directorial debut before Hoffman withdrew from the film. Liam Neeson had then originally landed the role to be directed by Jeff Kanew, but lost it to Robin Williams when director Peter Weir came on board. Bill Murray was also considered at one point.

8: The name of the high school in “Carrie” is Bates High, a reference to Norman Bates from “Psycho“. In addition, the four note violin theme from “Psycho” is used over and over in the film.

9: Kate Winslet holds a unique position in Academy Awards history: Only twice have two actresses been nominated for playing the same character in the same film. The first two were Gloria Stuart and Winslet in “Titanic“. The second two were Judi Dench and Winslet in “Iris“.

10: Director Francis Ford Coppola explains on the DVD commentary of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” that Mina (Winona Ryder) and Jonathan Harker’s (Keanu Reeves) wedding was a reshoot done at a Los Angeles Greek Orthodox church. They filmed the entire ceremony with a genuine Orthodox minister and realized afterwards that Ryder and Reeves really were (unintentionally) married.

So there you have it. 10 esoteric Tidbits to masticate on. Some you may know. Some you may not. If you have any thoughts, stick your donations in the comment box.
See you next Tuesday…

(For earlier editions of Trivia Tidbits click here.)

Casino * * * * 1/2

Director: Martin Scorsese.
Screenplay: Nicholas Pileggi.
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods, Frank Vincent, Don Rickles, Alan King, Kevin Pollak, L. Q. Jones, Dick Smothers, Melissa Prophet, John Bloom, Pasquale Cajano, Vinny Vella, Frankie Avalon.

Five years after delivering one the mob genre’s finest films in “GoodFellas“, director Martin Scorsese reunited with screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi and several of the same actors – mainly Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci – to focus on another true-life crime story. This time he takes it away from the mean streets of New York and focuses on the deserts of Las Vegas. The results may be highly similar but they’re just as impressive.

Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert DeNiro) is a smooth and ambitious type that moves out to Las Vegas to become the operator of the Tangiers Casino. Things go well for him until his volatile childhood friend Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) arrives to get in on the action and Sam falls in love with conniving, unbalanced and untrustworthy, showgirl Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone). Before long, a cycle of drugs and violence ensues while Sam struggles to hold onto his casino license and the mob back home are less than happy with the results.

The hallmarks of Scorsese’s style and structure – that were so prevalent in “GoodFellas” – are all on show again here. He has his usual reliable cast, delivering voiceover narrations that take us through the events and there is regular use of classic tracks from The Rolling Stones. His directorial techniques and are also on show; from flash-cuts to freeze-frames, crash zooms and montages. In other words, Scorsese is doing it all over again and it’s these very techniques and stylistic flourishes that have drawn some criticism Casino’s way for being too similar to his aforementioned crime classic. To some extent, I can understand these gripes. There is definitely a feeling of repetition and lack of originality in it’s approach. The most obvious comparison being the casting of Joe Pesci. As good as Pesci is (and he is very good) it may have served Scorsese better to cast someone else in that role. The character is too similar to Pesci’s Oscar winning Tommy DeVito. I’d liked to have seen (another Scorsese regular) Harvey Keitel, for example, just to mix things up a bit and he’s proven beforehand that he’s an actor that plays off DeNiro very well. That being said, there is an argument of ‘if it ain’t broke, dont fix it’. It does tread old ground and doesn’t really bring anything fresh to the table but it’s old ground that’s worth treading again. Where Scorsese does succeed, is in his casting of DeNiro. In “GoodFellas“, DeNiro was underused but here he delivers some solid work. He has a less showy role than those around him, making it easy to overlook just how effortless he is. He’s rarely offscreen for the entire 3 hours of the film and shows an absolutely commanding reservation. Other great inclusions in the cast are a weasel like James Woods and a surprisingly outstanding Sharon Stone. She takes a back seat in the early stages but when she properly enters the fray, she delivers a very powerful and layered performance and the convincing catalyst for the unravelling of the characters’ indulgent lifestyles. She was rightfully Oscar nominated for her work here and very unlucky not to win. It’s a testament to these committed performances and Scorsese’s expertise that this film still manages to stand alone as a very fine piece of cinema in it’s own right. Added to which, the lavish production design by Dante Ferretti and Robert Richardson’s sublime cinematography bring the whole glitz, glamour and corruption of Las Vegas to fruition.

An enthralling and intimate portrayal of the decline of the mob in the 1970′s. It may not be as tightly constructed as “GoodFellas” but how many film’s are or ever will be? If this is the only criticism that can be appointed to Casino then there’s no point criticising at all. Another superb addition to Scorsese’s canon.

Mark Walker

Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee * * *

Director: Shane Meadows.
Screenplay: Shane Meadows.
Starring: Paddy Considine, Dean Palinczuk, Olivia Colman, Shane Meadows, Richard Graham, Seamus O’Neill, Alex Hunter, Matt Helders, Nick O’Malley, Jamie Cook, Nigel Reeks.

Director Shane Meadows is no stranger to low-budget filmmaking. In fact, most of his films to date have been made with relativity tight constraints. This time around, he goes that one step further and makes an all-out, fly on the wall mockumentary, which also happens to be his third collaboration with actor Paddy Considine.

Documentary maker Shane Meadows (playing himself) follow the life of music manager Le Donk (Paddy Considine), who reckons he’s unearthed a new talent in rapper Scor-Zay-Zee (Dean Palinczuk). As a slot with band The Arctic Monkeys opens up, the would-be manager and his protege hit the road to try and make a name for themselves.

If the brilliant “A Room For Romeo Brass” and “Dead Man’s Shoes” were anything to go by, you’d be forgiven for getting very excited about the prospect of Meadows and Considine working together again. I know I certainly was. Unfortunately, this film isn’t quite up to their previous high standards. In fairness, they’ve adopted a different approach but for a film with a running time of just over an hour you’d expect it to move briskly and get down to telling it’s story. In the early stages it does this, with some hilarious observational humour and “kitchen sink” drama that’s reminiscent of Ricky Gervais’ “The Office” but the delivery soon becomes a bit stale. The idea is good, the performances are good but for a film to enter into this mould it needs to provide more laughs than it does. I’m sure it probably will appeal to many people but for me, as a big fan of Meadows, I had set my sites too high. It loses it momentum and relies too heavily on the presence of Considine and his perfect balance of ambition and desperation. He’s most definitely the highlight here. However, there’s only so much one man can carry. The humour and awkward situations are well captured but it essentially there isn’t much of a story and becomes not much more than a showcase for real-life rap artist and freestyler Scor-Zay-Zee, who’s not that appealing to begin with.

An interesting, if unsuccessful, project from Meadows. He’s not made many bad movies and I wouldn’t say this is bad either. It’s just not as eventful as it could have been.

Mark Walker