Film Category
Includes cinema reviews and trailers for upcoming films. A digest of the best and worst interviews on movies and cinema.
Gene Wilder writes a gentle critique of his Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory costume
WHEN Gene Wilder was picked to play Will Wonka in the 1970 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, he wrote to directer Mel Stuart about the sketehs for his costume:
July 23rd
Dear Mel,
I’ve just received the costume sketches. I’ll tell you everything I think, without censoring, and you take from my opinion what you like.
I assume that the designer took his impressions from the book and didn’t know, naturally, who would be playing Willy. And I think, for a character in general, they’re lovely sketches.
I love the main thing — the velvet jacket — and I mean to show by my sketch the exact same color. But I’ve added two large pockets to take away from the svelt, feminine line. (Also in case of a few props.)
I also think the vest is both appropriate and lovely.
And I love the same white, flowing shirt and the white gloves. Also the lighter colored inner silk lining of the jacket.
What I don’t like is the precise pin pointing in place and time as this costume does.
I don’t think of Willy as an eccentric who holds on to his 1912 Dandy’s Sunday suit and wears it in 1970, but rather as just an eccentric — where there’s no telling what he’ll do or where he ever found his get-up — except that it strangely fits him: Part of this world, part of another. A vain man who knows colors that suit him, yet, with all the oddity, has strangely good taste. Something mysterious, yet undefined.
I’m not a ballet master who skips along with little mincy steps. So, as you see, I’ve suggested ditching the Robert Helpmann trousers. Jodhpurs to me belong more to the dancing master. But once elegant now almost baggy trousers — baggy through preoccupation with more important things — is character.
Slime green trousers are icky. But sand colored trousers are just as unobtrusive for your camera, but tasteful.
The hat is terrific, but making it 2 inches shorter would make it more special.
Also a light blue felt hat-band to match with the same light blue fluffy bow tie shows a man who knows how to compliment his blue eyes.
To match the shoes with the jacket is fey. To match the shoes with the hat is taste.
Hope all is well. Talk to you soon.
All my best,
Gene
Spotter: Dangerous Minds
Name the famous film from the image – can you?
CAN you name the famous films from these stills? We’ve compiled a gallery of stills from great movies. Can you name them all?
Answers on page 2:
Prometheus world premiere in photos
THE Prometheus world premiere in photos. Guy Pearce, Charlize Theron, Sir Ridley Scott, Giannina Facio, star turn Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and more. As for the film: if you like aliens and want to see humans get a new kind of forbidden fire from the space men in a garbled sci-fi spectacular, this is for you…
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Watchmen actress to play Debbie Harry on the silver screen?
PUNK is a sly old slag. It pretended to be anti-establishment (ie, anti-corporate and therefore, anti-money) when all along, it was just waiting to cash-in and start shouting its mouth off saying that all attempts at grabbing money are little more than ‘art-school pranks’ and that, as ever, punk is as real as real can be.
So now, firmly part of the establishment, punk is going to the silver screen with a biopic of legendary NYC punk club, CBGBs.
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James Bond is nothing but a beer-swilling sell-out
YOU may think James Bond is a suave, sophisticated man. That’s probably because he drives expensive sports cars, travels in luxury, always has a nice watch on and is the epitome of tailored cool. Right?
You couldn’t be more wrong.
You see, Ol’ Bondy is ditching his famous Martini in favour of being a loutish, beer swigging, burping sell-out. That’s right. No long will Bond be asking for his cocktail ‘shaken, not stirred’ because he’ll be too busy crushing beer cans on his head and howling at football matches (what team does Bond support anyway?).
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The Goonies: The sequel? The musical?
EVER wondered what Sloth is up to these days? Due to his crippling brain-injury suffered at the hands of his clumsy parents (probably getting released from jail around now for trying to kill a group of children), he’s probably dead. That’s sad isn’t it? Elsewhere, Data is probably working for Google now and Chunk is invariably a regular guest on various infomercials for dramatic weight-loss with Richard Simmons.
Why would we be musing about all this? Well, Josh Brolin – who played Brand in The Goonies – has revealed that he’s been talking to Steven Spielberg about making a sequel.
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Cannes 2012: the opening Gala in photos
TO Cannes for the opening gala of the 2012 show. The talk in Europe is all about austerity versus debt. Cannes is somewhere else…
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Cannes 2012: Day 2 photos – Marion Cotillard adds star quality to Rust and Bone
CANNES 2012: Day 2 photos – Marion Cotillard adds star quality to Rust and Bone at the 65th international film festival, with added Matthias Schoenaerts. The film is about a woman with no legs who falls in love with a bare-knuckled boxer in Antibes on the Cote d’Azur. Oh, and for added realism, Cotillard trains killer whales. If the films are about escaping the normal to experience the quintessential human spirit somewhere else, this ticks the boxes. Well worth a look. Score: Three Orcas.
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Cannes 2012: Day 1 photos – Bill Murray works the lens in Moonrise Kingdom
CANNES 2012 in photos: Bill Murray and Bruce Willis stole the show effortlessly as director and writer Wes Anderson (he co-wrote it with Roman Coppola)and co-star Edward Norton worked the cameras for Moonrise Kingdom at the 65th international film festival. Moonrise Kingdom is the festival opener, a quirky, fragile, alluring and ultimately inconsequential tale of teenage love New England America. It stars Tilda Swinton as a retro child catcher, Murray and Willis. The cast alone makes it worth a look…
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In photos – Men In Black 3D with Will Smith on hurdles
TO the Men In Black 3D photocall, then, at London’s swanky Dorchester Hotel. This is the life, eh, stood in an expensive hotel looking at actors, like Barry Sonnenfeld, Alice Eve, Will Smith, Emma Thompson and Josh Brolin, mugging it up for the cameras. The best bit was elsewhere, when Will Smith went to the Ethos Sports Centre in Imperial College, London, and auditioned for the part of an effete Eric Morecambe in the forthcoming biopic of the comic’s life. Morecambe would have wanted Smith to play him in film. And, in any case, John Travolta is busy…
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Tom Wilson’s Back To The Future business cards explain it all
TOM Wilson. Who he? Film buffs will know that Tom Wilson played Biff in the Back To The Future trilogy. (He also does comedy and voices on Sponge Bob Squarepants.) His business cards are legend. On them is an explanation of The Back to The Future plot. Other actors might try the move, perhaps distilling plot lines into as few words as possible: Twilight (“Very old man hangs bout with schoolgirl”); Star Wars (“Cowboys and Indians in space”); and many more…
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Battleship premier photos: Rihanna and the bored games
WE went to see Rihanna at the American premiere of the film Battleship in Los Angeles. Battleship is a really expensive B-movie based on the boardgame. The story is that aliens have crashed into / invaded Earth and have decided to attack Hawaii, where only the American Pacific fleet, Lieutenant Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) and petty officer Rihanna’s monosyllabic interjections can stop the world from being overrun. One word: noisy.
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Sacha Baron Cohen’s Dictator shoots Al Fayed in the face – photos
TO the premier of The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen’s new flick based on the life and daydream of the late Colonel Gaddafi. For reasons that need little explaining, Baron Cohen shared the red carpet with Mohamed Al-Fayed, the owner of fuggin’ Fulham FC who bought a larger-than-life statue of Michael Jackson (7ft 6ins) and stuck it by the club’s Craven Cottage ground. Why? Why the fug not? Ask yourself what a Fulham fan might have expected of that new statue made to accompany the existing effigy of club legend Johnny Haynes. Perhaps a statue of a famous Fulham fan, like Terry McCann from Minder, Wolfie ‘Citizen’ Smith or Ray Brooks (the voice of Mr Ben). Instead the fans got Michael Jackson, who saw Fulham play Wigan in 1997. Fayed gave The Cottagers the figure of man who spoke in a girly voice and seems to have been as much into football as he was into plate tectonics. The question must be why would Baron Cohen would not take Al-Fayed to The Dictator premier and then pretend to shoot him in the head with golden pistol?
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Dark Shadow Premier in photos – Carry On Trio order the usual
THE London Premier of Dark Shadows saw Johnny Depp, Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter rocks up to Empire Leicester Square, London. The trio are the closest thing Hollywood has to a Carry On crew. You know exactly what their film is going to be like, what kind of performances the players will put in and what kind of story Burton will evoke with his set and styling. The film ticks boxes. This is not say it isn’t any good. It is. It’s just not that good. It’s like a glass of iced fizzy coke that’s been sat a little too long on the counter so that while you get the familiar flavours and bursts of the good stuff you also get flatness that fails to hit the spot. Still, Depp and Bonham Carter are engaging, charismatic and above all shaggable. The Carry On Trio fans will love it…
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The Greatest Slaps in movie history: Volumes I and II
THE Greatest Slaps in movie history: Volume 1 and the sequel Volume II: Slap and Slapier:
All This And World War ll – Watch how The Beatles lost the war
FANS of The Beatles hated All This And World War ll, a film that mashed up actual 1940s World War 2 footage with Hollywood actors pretending to fight in war films and set it to people singing songs by the Fab Four. This 1976 flick was not the work not of a Japanese fan in his mum’s basement but the mighty 20th Century Fox.
So, which song and signer went with what footage? You might enjoy the bit where the German charge into Poland as Ambrosia sings “Roll up for the mystery tour”. Peter Gabriel’s belt out “Strawberry Fields Forever” – “living is easy with eyes closed” – as Neville Chamberlain shows off his worthless peace treaty. Tina Turner covers “Come Together” – “choo choo eyeballs” – is the Japanese march up and down. Gawd, those Beatles were significant.
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Posted: 8th, May 2012 | In: Film, Flashback, Key Posts | Comment
Fox Uses Trayvon Martin’s death to market Ben Stiller’s Neighborhood Watch film
THE makers of the film Neighborhood Watch have reacted to the death of Trayvon Martin – the teenager shot dead in Florida by Neighbourhood watchman George Zimmerman – by renaming their product The Watch.
Fox Studios, the makers, explain that the renaming has nothing to do with Trayvon Martin, which makes us wonder why the internet is alight with news that it is? Says the Fox spokesperson:
“As the subject matter of this alien invasion comedy bears no relation whatsoever to the recent tragic events in Florida, the studio altered the title to avoid any accidental or unintended misimpression that it might.”
Good-oh. Sensible, indeed, to use the death of an unarmed black teenager to explain that the NEW film starring Ben STILLER (not black) and Vince VAUGN (also not black) – coming to ALL cinemas SOON – has nothing to do with the death of unarmed black teenager TRAYVON Martin, his name currently riding high on the news cycle and in search engine keywords.
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Star Wars fans celebrate May The Day with these Japanese movie posters
IT’S May the Fourth, as in “May the fourth be with you”. Yep. It’s Star Wars Day. To celebrate the pun – and while we wait for International Anti-Semitic Day (every July), National Strike Day (March 1st) and Germany’s anti Declan Donnelly Day of action (Dec 9), here are some photos. To mark this auspicious occasion you should take a look at George Lucas’s robots and these Japanese movies posters, which turn Star Wars into a madly-drawn cartoon…
Star Wars photos: George Lucas and his robots
THE Film Anorak goes back to look at Star Wars’ creator George Lucas and his robots.
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Kate Middleton at the African Cats Premiere – Photos
AROUND one year ago, commoner Kate Middleton (“OK ya!”) married royal Prince William (“Yeah, dude, sure thing”) in a massive display of pomp and wealth sat neatly on Pippa Middleton’s taught buttocks. For their anniversary Prince Charles is being urged to give William the throne. That for later. Last night the Duchess of Cambridge, for it is he, was at the the premier of the film African Cats. It’s a film about African cats, the sort of things William’s ancestors used to murder for fun…
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Posted: 26th, April 2012 | In: Film, Royal Family | Comment
In photos – Scarlett Johansson at The Avengers UK premiere
IN Photos – the Marvel Avengers Assemble European Premiere at the Westfield Centre, London. Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Junior were there. So too were… Oh, who cares. Scarlett Johansson!
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Russian cinema has homosexuality is a disease – calls on Putin for help
IN Russia, the film business is in a mess: Interfax reports:
Russia’s Union of Cinematographers came out with a statement in which it lashed out at the standards of Russian cinema, lambasted the Russian media and claimed that Russia is on the verge of a cultural and moral “catastrophe.”
…The union said illiteracy, degradation of gender relationships, and depreciation of family values are features of modern Russian society. “All these diseases put Russia on the verge of disappearance,” is said.
Russians find Russian films humiliating and have stopped seeing them, the union said. “Generally speaking, modern Russian cinema is destructive. Not only does it fail to generate love for one’s country, for one’s near and dear and for other people – it in principle kills off one’s desire to live, work and raise children in Russia,” the statement said.
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Posted: 18th, April 2012 | In: Film | Comment (1)
The American Pie Reunion is televised – photos
TO the American Pie:Reunion photocall in London. All the faces were there: Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomes Ian Nicholas, Eugene Levy,Tara Reid, Jennifer Coolidge, Sean William Scott, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Mena Suvari. So. How are they doing? Well, The Hollywood Reporter noted:
Jason Biggs – $5 million plus a share of first-dollar gross
Sean William Scott – $5 million plus a small slice of first-dollar gross
Alyson Hannigan – $3 million
Eugene Levy – $3 million
Chris Klein, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Natasha Lyonne, Jennifer Coolidge, Mena Suvari and Shannon Elizabeth -$500,000 to $750,000 plus the possibility of bonusing
Tara Reid – $250,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The Avengers premier in Los Angeles – photos
THE Avengers premier in Los Angeles – Marvel’s effort at stitching together seven of it superheroes in a fight with the devilish Loki in a New York in meltdown. Thankfully, Iron Man will save the day by bouncing off six other super characters, including adolescent boy bait Scarlett Johansson in her Kinky Boots, Kinky Boots…
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Joe Eszterhas’ letter to ‘Jew hater’ Mel Gibson and Gibson’s reply in full – the Judah Maccabee missives
JOE Eszterhas has written a letter to Mel Gibson, ostensibly about the actor’s apparent reluctance to work with him on the The Maccabees, the movie of the life of Jewish hero Judah Mccabee.
It’s an odd letter that rambles and rumbles on and on, focusing a lot on Mel’s anti-Semitic outbursts. Eszterhas has written the scripts for the films Showgirl, Basic Instinct and Jade. If the Maccabees script is like this letter then the film might not be worth the effort. Indeed, the best option would be to make a film of the letter, and to include Gibson’s reply, which can be read on the last page:
Posted: 12th, April 2012 | In: Film, Key Posts | Comments (10)
