AICN UK: The Prestige, Munich, Zathura, Walk The Line, The Proposition and More!

Hey-ho from cool and cloudy England, Top Hat back again with a round-up of the goings on around our grand United Kingdom.

I love awards season over here. Basking in the afterglow of the Globes, feeling the buzz of build-up to BAFTA and Oscar, the distributors seem to get a kick out of cramming the final few weeks with all the award nominees. Which means that for three or four weeks at the beginning of every year, I get to catch up on all the great movies that were separated by months in their releases over in the States.

In my first column, the week after New Year, the only film of note to review was MATCH POINT. Today, I have no less than FOUR Oscar contenders lined up to review and the prospect of more to come in the next couple of weeks. Then I get the delight of staying up till 4 in the morning to watch the Oscars LIVE and as they happen…



NEWS

Andy Serkis has become the latest hot British talent to join the cast of Chris Nolan’s PRESTIGE. He joins Christian Bale, Michael Caine and David Bowie as well as American and Australian stars Scarlett Johannson and Hugh Jackman.

Nick Love, the writer/director behind THE FOOTBALL FACTORY and THE BUSINESS, is pioneering a new way to finance his next movie. Love is selling investment packages from his website in blocks of £10, £20 or £100. What the idea amounts to is essentially a form of direct-to-consumer pre-sales, with investors being guaranteed a copy of the flick on DVD and a credit on the DVD copy of the movie. It’s an interesting concept for low-budget filmmaking – it’s certainly going to test just how dedicated his fanbase is!

Nick Cave, the man behind Aussie western THE PROPOSITON, has announced that his next feature will be sent in the English seaside town of Brighton. Cave is quoted saying of the flick, “It’s pretty grim, but there’s no violence in it. It’s sort of a British sex romp. Without the sex in it… and not a lot of romping either.” Nice and clear, that one, then…

Film London this week announced a new ultra-low budget filmmaking scheme aimed to encourage feature film production in the London area. The Microwave project will award budgets up to £75,000 ($130,000), which filmmakers can raise to no more than £100,000 ($175,000) with in-kind funding, At the launch of the scheme, which is backed by the BBC among others, it was said they hope to encourage “an intensive approach to filmmaking, with an emphasis on tightly-focused scripts, short production schedules and commercial potential.” More information will be available from the Film London website by the end of February.



AWARDS AND FESTIVALS

A new festival for Screenwriters launched last week. Based in the town of Cheltenham, better known till now as a horse-racing venue, the fest has a slew of high-profile supporters including Oscar-winner Julian Fellowes and will take place between June 27-July 2 this summer, aiming to provide a forum for debate and discussion. More info can be found at their website www.screenwritersfestival.com

The Oscars list has blessed a good number of Brits this year, including Judi Dench and Keira Knightley in the Best Actress Category and Rachel Weisz in Best Supporting Actress. My personal favourite of the year is up against stiff competition – WALLACE AND GROMIT will be facing off against CORPSE BRIDE and HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE in the Best Animated Feature category. Fingers crossed for more golden statues for the genius that is Nick Park.



BOX OFFICE

I never like to look at the box office figures when you see top-notch fare like Munich and Brokeback being kept away from the top spot by a Jim Carrey movie. Memoirs manages to fight its way up into the top five for the first time in its 3 weeks on release. Narnia, now on week 8, has only just slipped out of the top 5 by one place.

1. FunWith Dick and Jane

2. Munich

3. RumourHas It

4. BrokebackMountain

5. Memoirsof a Geisha



NEW RELEASES



Released this week:

Big Momma’s House 2

Chicken Little

Final Destination 3

Proof (limited)

Song of Songs

Lady Vengeance

Walk the Line (expansion)



Released next week, eyes open for:

Aeon Flux

Casanova

Feed

Good Night, and Good Luck



Region 2 DVD released today:

Bewitched

Candyman (Collector’s Edition)

Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo

Elizabethtown

Kinky Boots

Must Love Dogs

Pride and Prejudice

The Piano (Special Edition)

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride



R2 DVD released next week, eyes open for:

Aeon Flux: The Complete Animated Boxset

All The President’s Men (Special Edition)

Cool Hand Luke

Cronos

Godzilla (1954)

Lady and the Tramp (Special Edition)

Nanny McPhee

Scrubs Season 3

Sons & Lovers

The Perfect Catch

REVIEWS







MUNICH

I’ve had my issues with Steven Spielberg of late. Too many times over the last few years, I’ve been completely sucked in and hooked on his releases, only to be bitterly, inconsolably disappointed. We can all argue till we’re blue in the face over how much of the end of WAR OF THE WORLDS was down to the book and how much was SS’s, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve developed a desire to leave the cinema 30 mins before his movies conclude.

Imagine my surprise, then, to be sucked into the intense, gripping drama of MUNICH, to roll with the characters’ stories, to watch Eric Bana search his soul to know if what he’s doing is the right thing when everything becomes blurred and to leave the cinema with not so much as a quibble with the way the movie ended – nor with anything that occurred within the final half-hour.

MUNICH is without doubt Spielberg’s best movie in years. In it, he manages to combine both his blockbusting sense of dramatic tension and slow-burn build-up to frenetic action set-pieces with a very real, emotional human drama.

As has become the norm for SS flicks, he’s assembled a fantastic cast of actors who may not be the most widely known stars on the planet, but could match any “opener” for performance. The impeccable Ciaran Hinds stands out amongst the group of Israeli assassins, with Daniel Craig doing his pre-Bond career no harm whatsoever. Bana leads the cast with a strong emotional centre, and his downward spiral into paranoid madness – peaking with an astonishing sequence intercut with the Munich massacre, which really didn’t ought to work but packs an enormous punch – grounds the audience in the reality of what could be a very detached, unemotional story.

All this is not to say the film is without it’s flaws and it’s not even touching on the various deeply political arguments that come pre-packaged with anything tackling this sort of subject matter from an angle of “truth”. Spielberg is immensely brave to take on such a hot topic and to open himself up to such intense criticism as he has received for this movie.

But above and beyond all the politicising, what he has achieved in the making of this movie is a film of great significance – not in the war between Palestine and Israel, nor Arabs vs. Jews, but simply within his own filmography. This is a film that shows that he really can pull it all together and make great movies, with solid final half-hours.









ZATHURA

John Favreau has been quoted this month as saying that ZATHURA is “not a sequel to JUMANJI” and that it is, in fact, nothing to do with the 1995 Robin Williams-starrer. Apparently, Sony simply saw it as a good way to sell the latest from the director of ELF. He also thinks it’ll help them stave off accusations of ripping off its predecessor.

And, on the evidence of the movie, it would be one great big rip-off if it isn’t related in any way.

“Jumanji in Space” is really the only way to sell this movie – for that’s exactly what this flick is. Even down to the dramatic beats of the story – this is the self-same tale, but brought into the future rather than sucking up the past.

Having said all of which, I have to say that it’s a far superior film to JUMANJI. For one, the performances of the two child stars are as good as I’ve seen from young actors for a long while and the characters are so well drawn that there is a real investment on the part of the audience in their predicament. Anyone with siblings close to their age will recognise the bickering between Danny and Walter, the closeness of their relationship that gets lost in all the petty annoyances of every day life living with a younger/older brother.

Favreau shows assured and confident style in his direction, always holding back from going over-the-top on big, splashy effects shots and instead keeping the drama within the house and intimate to the characters and their peril. He imbues the film with the feeling of a rollercoaster ride at any generic amusement park – and it’s sure to keep the young ‘uns gripped throughout, with just this right mixture of adventure, peril and scares.

While ZATHURA is never going to be a huge hit with the over-16s, it’s undoubtedly one of the best flicks for kids out there.







GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK

I’m a huge Clooney fan – I love his work, from Out of Sight and Ocean’s to Solaris and everything in between. And I’m also a huge fan of CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, his directorial debut which was infused with a sense of confidence and style that you don’t often find from first-time actor-directors.

And so, what with all the awards buzz surrounding this movie, I went into GOOD NIGHT with high hopes for continuing my love-affair with all things George.

But the course of true love never did run smooth, to paraphrase the Bard, and GOOD NIGHT is not the film I had hoped it would be. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a very assured, well-constructed and excellently performed film, but it lacks a little something that I can’t put my finger on to make it the movie I’d wanted it to be.

On reflection, I think most of the problem lies with me – as a Brit, I have nothing but a passing knowledge of the whole saga that the movie is concerned with. McCarthy is nothing but a name to me, in the same way Murrow is. Perhaps, if the film had been concerned with similar public figures from the UK, my understanding of the situation would have been deeper.

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK is real brain-food of a film. It gives you a lot to think about and it’s rather unemotional depiction of the tension in the ranks at CBS as they take on a war which they have no idea if they can win makes it feel much more documentary than dramatic fiction.

This isn’t a movie that the multiplex masses are going to enjoy – even less so the British multiplex masses who don’t have the connection with the material that Americans may have – but that’s not a criticism. In fact, there should be more movies like this that make it to our screens the world over. And my man George should be commended for sticking his neck out to get pieces like this made and distributed as widely as he has.







THE NORTH COUNTRY

Niki Caro’s WHALE RIDER was a revelation to me. One of those movies which comes along at just the right time and hits all the right buttons to connect with you on a really deep level. I first saw it on DVD in the living room of a friend’s house in Houston, Texas early in 2004 and I finished it with tears streaming down my face.

After watching her follow-up, one thing is immediately clear – Caro is an actors’ director. She draws performances out of her casts that resonate on so many levels. Keisha Castle-Hughes got a well-deserved Oscar nomination for her turn in WHALE RIDER and it’s no surprise that NORTH COUNTRY boasts nominations too.

The story of the first sexual harassment suit in late 80s Minnesota is told carefully through the eyes of Charlize Theron’s Josie. Struggling to support herself and her two children after leaving her abusive husband, she takes a job working in the local mine, joining a core of women workers who spend every working day struggling to ignore the jaunts and jibes of their male co-workers. But Josie isn’t one to sit back and take it and she’s soon inciting worse and worse treatment for the women by trying to stand up for them.

It would be easy to say that Theron is “outstanding” as Josie, but it would be unjust. But no single performance in this movie stands out from the crowd, such is the strength of the ensemble. The women of the film cover a wide scope of characters and Theron, Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek and Michelle Monaghan all nail their various personalities with masterly precision. Sean Bean and Woody Harrelson, both cast distinctly against recent type, are revelatory, and the rest of the support is exemplary too.

This film is a real credit to the women who fought that first case and who stuck out their necks in order to make the workplace better and fairer for all women, not only in America but in all the other countries which followed their lead. Niki Caro has shown that whether handling low-budget fair in her native New Zealand or taking on a cast of stars, she knows exactly what she’s doing and boy, does she do it well.







WALK THE LINE

One of my strongest memories of childhood is of my father and his old guitar, Dominque, which he picked up in Germany in the late 60’s after watching it be made on a street corner, sitting with my brother and me singing us Boy Named Sue. We loved that song, although we could only remember the words for the first five lines or so, and we were enchanted every time my Dad sang it.

Without knowing it, Dad was sowing the seeds which would make WALK THE LINE feel like a real home-coming. As I grew up and out of the age when fathers sing to their little ones, I lost touch with Jonny Cash and his music. But watching Joaquin Phoenix’s riveting performance and hearing that sound rolling across the cinema, I remembered how much I loved that stuff.

If it’s possible to have a tragedy with a happy ending, that’s what this movie is. We see Cash go through all manner of dramas, crises and upset and at times it looks like there’s going to be know way back for him. Somehow the knowledge that he lived to a ripe old age and only left us a few short years ago isn’t reassuring at all when you’re in the middle of this flick.

Reese Witherspoon and Phoenix have a wonderful on-screen chemistry. We can understand the fight that June goes through just as much as that which Jonny is battling against and it makes their eventual union so much more than just the inevitable ending it could have been in the wrong hands.

James Mangold, director of GIRL, INTERRUPTED and COPLAND displays again his love of character drama and storytelling and rises well above his more recent films like KATE & LEOPOLD and IDENTITY. He infuses Jonny’s breakdown with a kind of kinetic energy which unsettles the audience without alienating them by going too over the top. Too often in flicks these days “shaky cam” is used to show disorientation and confusion, but winds up simply causing it. Mangold is more restrained in its use and show just how effective it can be when it’s done right.

And done right is exactly what this movie is. It’s personal, touching, resonant and real and for the Jonny Cash fans out there, it may just take you back to a place in your past when you first found the man and his music. That’s me done for this week – I’ll be back next time with a round-up of how the Brits faired in awards season, and how liberal we were at dishing our own statues to home-grown talent.

Till next time, I tip my hat to you all.

Top Hat ‘n’ Tails