Well, Father Geek is back once again with another addition of our Euro-AICN Monday morning column, but before we get on to Robert, Grozilla, ratbert, Eathan and the rest of this week's Euro-crew I've got the following bit on the BAFTA awards in England
Us sly old Brits have moved our Oscar show so that it occurs before the US Oscars. We're hoping that our awards will get a great deal more attention this way. As you can see from the link below:
- 12 nominations for Moulin Rouge
- 12 nominations for Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
- 9 nominations for Amelie
- 7 nominations for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- 6 nominations for Shrek (including Eddie Murphy)
Looks like there is a little less politics over here in the UK (or is it that there is different politics here...)
click on over to Here to See Them All
The winners will announced on February 24, 2002
love,
aladar
Hi folks. A great issue of Euro-Aicn column today.
Do you want to know what Harry Potter star Rupert Grint, Hayden Christensen, Martin Campbell next projects are? Do you want to see an exclusive We Were Soldiers ad? And to discover the next french sensation which will "knock you out and make you forget Mathieu Kassovitz Crimson Rivers and The Brotherwwod of the Wolves"? And (it's true) a very negative LOTR review? This is the right place.
All this stuff (and many other bits) are waiting for you below. Enjoy!
News from Ratbert
Harry Potter star Rupert Grint has landed a role in a bizarre new British film.
Thunderpants is about a boy who can't stop breaking wind. Rupert, who plays Ron Weasley in Harry Potter, will star alongside Simon Callow and Stephen Fry.
The lead role is taken by newcomer Bruce Cook, reports the Sunday Express. Rupert's character is a child genius who invents a special pair of trousers to help his friend become an astronaut.
"I'm really proud of the film and hope it's a big hit," said Rupert. "It's the windiest film ever."
Hayden Christensen is to appear in London's West End.
Christensen plays Anakin Skywalker in the forthcoming Star Wars film. He will co-star with Anna Paquin in This Is Our Youth, a revival of a play by Kenneth Lonergan.
Previews will begin in late February and the play will run for eight weeks with Laurence Boswell directing. Christensen will play a rich kid who spend a decadent weekend stealing, dealing and consuming drugs.
Star Wars Episode 2 will hit cinemas on May 16.
The director of Goldeneye is to make a new film based on the award-winning BBC series Edge Of Darkness.
Martin Campbell, who directed the original, will bring the crime story up to date and transfer it to America (NO! - Ratbert).
The BBC series was shown in 1985 and won six Bafta awards. It starred Bob Peck, Joanne Whalley and Joe Don Baker.
The story centres on Ron Craven, a policeman and widower, who witnesses what first appears to be the accidental killing of his daughter, Emma. Distraught by the loss, and further troubled by his conviction the bullet was intended for him, Craven takes on the murder investigation with an obsessive zeal to see justice done.
The writer of Gosford Park is to work on a new British film about a family of witches.
Julian Fellowes will adapt Pure Dead Magic, based on the children's book of the same name by Debi Gliori. The book is a comedy about the last clan in a long line of witches living in their castle in Scotland.
When their father is kidnapped by a half brother looking for an inheritance, his children must use witchcraft, computer technology and help from some magical pet beasts to save him.
Evil Spy sends us a very special poster...
Dear Harry & Co, I was able to get a hold of the UK campaign for We Were Soldiers... This one kicks ass! It beats Black Hawk Dawn's poster as well as the US version of We Were Soldiers too.
Man, I gotta say that Europe shall rise... and the US shall fall... US Guys???? Were in the hell is your creative skills????
You can see the poster by clicking here: Just Do It Now
Take care and .... so long... farewell... aufiderzein goodbye.... to you, and you.... and you and you and youuuuu!
Evil Spy from the battle fields of the Middle East!
Movie Brat talks about the german contender at the Oscars, The Experiment.
It was just announced that Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired the distribution rights to the acclaimed German thriller "The Experiment" for a US-release. "The Experiment" is based on a real-life event that happend in Los Angeles in the late 70s and stars German shooting star Moritz Bleibtreu of "Run Lola Run"-fame. "The Experiment" will also be a runner-up for the "Best foreign language film"-nominations for the Academy Awards being announced on February 12th.
Best, MOVIE BRAT
SCI-FI-LONDON, the first serious science fiction film festival in Britain
They have a packed programme of classic, rare and new features films including THX 1138, Soylent Green, Stalker and Tron. They also have the World Premiere of Ken Russell's new feature "The Fall of the Louse of Usher" and the European Premiere of Mark Pellington's "The Mothman Prophecies" Along with the regular sci-fi, a fantastic anime selection.
On Jan 30th 2002 at the ICA Theatre Jonathan Clements (Manga Max, Co-author of the Anime Encyclopedia etc) presenting a 2 hour lecture on Newtype Anime with rare footage going back some 80 years. And the premiere of the new US version of Akira, cleaned, re-coloured and with a new english soundtrack!
Also screened Blood the Last Vampire, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade and the UK Premiere of Mamoru Oshii's (ghost in the shell, Akira) live action debut AVALON. The link to their website is: http://www.sci-fi-london.com/scifact.htm Short Scripts Online
The Short Script Marketplace is up and running at http://www.shortscriptsonline.com
The site was created to provide a central location where short scripts can be found quickly and with ease. For the Writer, Short Scripts Online provides a free method of advertising short scripts to a world wide market. For the independent filmmaker, Short Scripts Online provides fast, free and easy access to short scripts from around the world.
Grozilla passed me his impressions about Black Hawk Dawn (I absolutelly agree with him!) and, most interesting, a review of Nid de Guepes, a movie which seems very exciting. Moreover, Wayne Cronin (ShowbizIreland) reviews Vanilla Sky and Ethan shares with us his hate about Peter Jackson work in LOTR-FOTR.
A few hours ago I attended a Black Hawk Down press screening (Scott, Bruckheimer are in town tomorrow for interviews). I’m sorry to say I left the screening room less than two hours after the film began. This is very well made film, but I’ve been very quick fed up by what it shows.
What’s this ? An extended version of Private Ryan’s beach assault ? Then what ? Dig under the gory effects, the thousands of bullets shot here.What will you found ? Nothing. Twenty five or so years ago, Scott depicted war in his first film, but he has a story to told. Here not. Just young guys assaulted and killed. Anything else ? Nope. Almost no characters (except maybe Tom Sizemore), just flesh becoming meat.
Black hawk down should have been painful, moving. It’s not. Mainly because here, it’s impossible to feel, to get some empathy with the characters. If the point was to show some mayhem. Ok, it’s successful. But I’m not sure that a movie must only be a demonstration of some technical savoir-faire. Sorry but as violent it is, I just can’t feel any pity for this soldier killed in that scene where the helicopter is assaulted by thousands of people. Sorry but I can’t be moved by some slow motion shooting on family photo handed by a dying young dude. Technical stuff can’t replace emotions. Not any more.
So far to me, if you wanna see a movie about the effects of war on human, see again and again Terrence Malick’s Thin red line. But, if you want so see the war from a Quake/Doom point of view, then Black Hawk Down is for you. And is very well done in that case. But I still think something is really down here, when this movie has strong muscles but quite no brain…
Nid de Guepes review
No big news from France this week, but a very good surprise : I just saw Florent Emilio Siri's second film... It let me knocked out as I've never been since the first time I saw Die hard. Forget, Matthieu Kassovitz' s Crimson rivers. Forget Gans' Brotherhood of the wolf.
The french sensation this year will be Siri's Nid de guêpes. The plot : A bunch of young thieves are on their way to rob some marchandises in a warehouse. On the same time, some french SWAT team is escorting an albanian warlord to his trial. Trouble is the pals of this bad guy want him back. So they're sending an army to get him. Some very eqquiped and nasty army.Thieves, Swat team and two nightwatchers are trapped in the warehouse, assaulted all night long by this invisible army. I've heard there's a french remake of John Carpenter's Assault in development. Too late, Siri has done some sort of with this astonishing action movie. Nid de guêpes is pure adrenaline. I was afraid by the cast, including people like Samy Naceri (from local mega-hits with no brain, Taxi 1 & 2) that this film might be kind of buddy movie à la Besson. Hopefully not. Siri has the good taste to rip off any hint of humor or funny lines you have to bear in any action film nowadays. This is hard and serious stuff. All is focused here on tension, suspense and action. each character is well described in introduction, then time for the chaos. Rememeber those Firegun shooting scenes in Assault ? They're stronger, louder, better here. Siri has even the good taste to have excellent female characters, especially Nadia Fares (The twin sisters in Crimson rivers. An actress I wasn't very found of until then), as a leader of the Swat team.
But Siri doesn't just give a brillant hommage to Carpenter, watch for some James Cameron's mood with then again those ballsy female characters but also some of his industrial feeling, some machines used here are indeed a salute to scenes of Aliens. But Nid de guêpes has also its own personality with some very subtle ideas (I won't tell you which ones, just because it would steal you some chill). It's sharp, smart and devastating. Nid de guêpes is for sure to get some huge buzz when it's gonna be released here at mid-march. I strongly assumed that when any hollywood producer will get a look at this film, Siri's gonna be called by any company to offer jobs to direct mega-epic.
I swear that Nid de guêpes gives the same sensation that discovering guys like John Mc Tiernan or John Woo. DON'T MISS IT FOR ANYTHING... Oh and by the way, if you can get a look to Une minute de silence, his very moving previous film, about some young mine workers (which failed here two or three years ago), then you'll know this guy is also gifted to write heartmoving stories. That's what I call a filmaker!
Vanilla Sky Review by Wayne Cronin (ShowbizIreland)
Having seen the impressive trailer for Vanilla Sky some time ago, I had it tipped as one to look out for. Then again, trailers are made to entice and even the most awful films might 'look good' in thirty odd seconds. Happily I was proved right about Vanilla Sky. The trailer doesn't do it justice.
Good old Tom Cruise has the leading role as David Aames, wealthy New York man-about-town publisher. The guy has everything. He knows it and so does everyone else, none moreso than Julie Gianni (Cameron Diaz) his sometime lover and permanent stalker.
Unrequited love for poor Julie, who becomes positively scorned when a new girl appears on the scene. Enter Sofia Serrano (Penelope Cruz), a beautiful, cultured and (most importantly) down to earth addition to the crazy world of David Aames.
Living up to her obsessive nature, Julie takes to following David and finishes by driving her car (and him) off a bridge and into a concrete wall. I won't say he survived without a scratch, but he fared better than she did! With his life dramatically changed, we begin to see David in a completely different light. From here on Vanilla Sky is bewildering. We are taken through the story via therapy sessions between David and Dr. Curtis McCabe (Kurt Russell). Think 'The Matrix'. Think 'Momento'.
Don't make unnecessary trips to get popcorn as you may miss a vital part. Save to say there are many twists and turns as we see the life of David Aames fluctuate from one extreme to another. No doubt cinemagoers will be interested to see what Cruise and Cruz are like on-screen, and it does appear that they have an energetic chemistry between them.
On the other hand they are both professionals who play their respective parts brilliantly and with perfect ease. Then there is Jason Lee, who gives a strong performance as Brian Shelby, David's best friend. Also of note is Timothy Spall as Thomas Tipp. I remember him from TV comedy Auf Wiedersehen Pet, and he has certainly come along way.
Based on the 1997 Spanish romantic thriller "Abre Los Ojos" (Open Your Eyes) which was directed by Alejandro Amenábar (The Others), and which also starred Penelope Cruz as Sofia, Vanilla Sky is a humorous yet dark and ominous film. The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic and some of the New York scenes are remarkable (the crew actually got permission to totally vacate Time Square). Full of tremendous emotion and utterly compelling, Vanilla Sky is a great movie to kick start 2002... Go see.
Ethan LOTR review
Peter Jackson`s LOTR is one of the greatest frauds in the history of mass communication.
It`s the first example of the five - year marketing terror which managed to persuade people to buy the tickets and make the fans and critics believe that the movie is amazing.
First of all, LOTR is too far from being an All - Time classic. It even belongs more to the history of filmmaking than to its` future because Jackson doesn`t create anything new. Revisionist and conservative approach is great but Jackson doesn`t refresh anything worth refreshing in this misfire. Thus he betrays revisionism as the method of preserving the worthy elements that mustn`t be forgotten.
Lack of authentic material is accompained by many unforgivable narrative flaws. Screenwriters didn`t care too much about turning the bony fairy tale charecters into big screen fleshed out live action creatures. Presentation of a living creature in the movie must deploy more information and intensive relationships than the book character that gets reimagined by the reader. You get none of that here. His characters are completely sex-less (even newborns have a certain level of sexuality) lame, predictable and strongly bound to cliches... I must remind you, Tolkien`s creations were unique because of their different races and credos. Jackson`s characters are like Smurfs.
The second basic mistake is the set-up wherea group of fairy-tale characters have a three-hour screen adventure with no real suspense. Unless you are a fucking moron, you can guess that nobody`s gonna get hurt. In such a concept, every presentation of peril becomes futile. Hollywoood has already developed the method of suspenseful scenes with immortal characters (for example: 007 movies). That system is not about the pure danger characters face. Its about how the icon gets out of the trouble. Peter Jackson avoided this solution. Materialization of fairy tale monsters makes no sense. Jackson`s monsters don`t have fairy tale smoothness and look like enlargened Chernobyl lizards. Thus they either have to bite someone or get created as un-geeky CGI shapes that don`t seem dangerous. This is not an hommage to Harryhausen. It`s betrayal. Jackson`s transfer to the Major Budget League and fairy tale milieuprovbes that shoestring catering was a pert of his undeniably charming classics. LOTS is just a big and clumsy photo-session of book topics with no real insight. For example, the avalanche in this movie looks like a sensation pictured from far away, instead of being shown as the visceral battle with The White Death. And he cheats you for three hours with such lame solutions.
Jackson forgot that not everyone bows to him. That you still have geeks who can`t be bought by Mario Bavaesque zooms and close-ups. That there are guys who don`t dig his desperate use of diving camera around Saruman`s tower. At last, we all know that Christopher Lee`s masterful part of Saruman owes more to his Hammer days than Jackson`s direction.
Peter Jackson`s triumph shaded the fact that Geoff Murphy directed the second unit. God bless him! He is one of the last of the old guys who grinded their teeth on straight genre cinema! Obviously, Jackson didn`t manage to break the curse that burdens Tolkien`s adaptations. The only difference is that no one cut any slack to Ralph Bakshi`s cartoon.
BTW, I never read the damn book.
God bless, Ethan
