film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Alton Williams

  • Iron Man 2 Cast Grows

    It has recently been confirmed that Scarlett Johansson and Mickey Rourke have joined the cast of the highly anticipated sequel Iron Man 2.

    Johansson will be taking on the role of Black Widow, while Rourke is signed to portray villain, Whiplash. For a while, Rourke’s people held out on the offer since they were only willing to pay Rourke a measly $250,000 for the part. C’mon guys, he’s an Oscar nominated actor!!! Anyway, all worked out, and all is well.

    Returning to the cast is the Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. If you stayed for that little snippet after the credits, you will remember Nick Fury making his entrance, and Samuel L. Jackson will be back to reprise that role (see archived post about Jackson signing on for 9 more Marvel films!). One face we won’t be seeing unfortunately, is Terrence Howard, who played Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes, who was replaced by Don Cheadle.

    According to Gwyneth’s newsletter, they will all reunite and are set out to start filming in TWO WEEKS!!! There is a scheduled release for May 2010. Can’t wait!!!

    So, what do you all think about the new additions to the cast? And what about the replacement? Will Favreau be able to pull off an amazing sequel??

    © BRWC 2010.

  • An Open Letter From David Hayter

    So it has been five months since I saw my first rough cut of WATCHMEN, and eight days since the premiere of the film I’ve been working on since late in the year 2000.

    The reviews are out — Some outstanding, others rankly dismissive, which can be frustrating for the people involved, (though I can only speak for myself,) because I firmly believe that WATCHMEN, the novel, must be read through more than once to even have the faintest grip on it. And I believe the film is the same.

    I’ve seen it twice now, and despite having run the movie in my head thousands of times, my two viewings still don’t’ allow me to view the film with the proper distance or objectivity. Is it Apocalypse Now? Is it Blade Runner? Is it Kubrick, or Starship Troopers? I don’t know yet.

    All I know is that I had a pretty amazing experience the two times I’ve seen it. And both viewings produced remarkably different experiences. The point is, I have listened for years, to complaints from true comic book fans, that “not enough movies take the source material seriously.” “Too many movies puss out,” or “They change great stories, just to be commercial.” Well, I f***ing dare you to say any one of those things about this movie.

    This is a movie made by fans, for fans. Hundreds of people put in years of their lives to make this movie happen, and every one of them was insanely committed to retaining the integrity of this amazing, epic tale. This is a rare success story, bordering on the impossible, and every studio in town is watching to see if it will work. Hell, most of them own a piece of the movie.

    So look, this is a note to the fanboys and fangirls. The true believers. Dedicated for life.

    If the film made you think. Or argue with your friends. If it inspired a debate about the nature of man, or vigilante justice, or the horror of Nixon abolishing term limits. If you laughed at Bowie hanging with Adrian at Studio 54, or the Silhouette kissing that nurse.

    Please go see the movie again next weekend.

    You have to understand, everyone is watching to see how the film will do in its second week. If you care about movies that have a brain, or balls, (and this film’s got both, literally), or true adaptations — And if you’re thinking of seeing it again anyway, please go back this weekend, Friday or Saturday night. Demonstrate the power of the fans, because it’ll help let the people who pay for these movies know what we’d like to see. Because if it drops off the radar after the first weekend, they will never allow a film like this to be made again.

    In the interests of full disclosure, let me also point out that I do not profi t one cent from an increase in box office, although an increase in box office can add to the value of the writers’ eventual residual profits from dvd and tv sales.

    But I’m not saying it for money. I’m saying it for people like me. I’m saying it for people who love smart, dark entertainment, on a grand, operatic scale. I’m talking to the Snake fans, the Rorschach fans, the people of the Dark Knight.

    And hey, if you hated the film, if you think we committed atrocities, or literary mistakes of a massive, cephalopodic nature. If the movie made you a little sick to your stomach, or made you feel bad about your life. If you hated it for whatever reason, that’s cool too. I’m not suggesting you risk gastro-intestinal distress just for the sake of risky filmmaking.

    But if you haven’t seen it yet? Well, I’ll just say this…

    It may upset you. And it probably will upset you.

    And all along, we really meant it to.

    Because face it. All this time…You there, with the Smiley-face pin. Admit it.

    All this time, you’ve been waiting for a director who was going to hit you in the face with this story. To just crack you in the jaw, and then bend you over the pool table with this story. With its utterly raw view of the darkest sides of human nature, expressed through its masks of action and beauty and twisted good intentions. Like a fry-basket full of hot grease in the face. Like the Comedian on the=2 0Grassy Knoll. I know, I know…

    You say you don’t like it. You say you’ve got issues. I get it.

    And yet… You’ll be thinking about this film, down the road. It’ll nag at you. How it was rough and beautiful. How it went where it wanted to go, and you just hung on. How it was thoughtful and hateful and bleak and hilarious. And for Jackie Earle Haley.

    Trust me. You’ll come back, eventually. Just like Sally.

    Might as well make it count for something.

    David Hayter

    © BRWC 2010.

  • Slumdog Millionaire Society

    By Woodsy.

  • Bad Hair Day ?

    This is a tribute to those actors who had to adorn wigs, hair pieces and some dodgy colouring jobs. I thought I’d pay my respects with the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine just round the corner. We all know the great clawed one has some what of a distinctive bed head look. It must be bed head hair, I cant really see him in front of the mirror putting in some styling putty before he whoops some mutant ass.
    Whats that I hear you all cry? Shout a bit louder for me please. Oh, you want to know what criteria has to be fulfilled in order to appear on this most prestigious of lists, well you have to be a decent looking guy and end up looking like a total schmuck.

    Let the bad barnets begin

    Now let me be clear here, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves is an absolute classic as far as I’m concerned. Its a firm family favourite (wow, how many f’s?). Its got some great action sequences and sword fights (can anything beat the slow mo flaming arrow into the executioners head?), great performances in Alan “I can do no wrong” Rickman and Morgan “I’ve played God” Freeman. But the clear show stealer is Kevin Costner’s hair. With its whispyness and added volume it really helps define the blatant mullet that Costner is rockin’.

    This next one is from a film that I feel was greatly unappreciated. In 2001 we were treated to
    Swordfish, a smart, slick action film that gives bang for your buck while also giving you a little to
    think about, plus its got Halle Berry on her best top totty form. But one thing that stands out in this is JT himself and any of you who are thinking John Terry can go sit in the corner and think about what they’ve done. No no, I’m talking about John Travolta. In interviews he’s said they wanted to go for a European playboy look to his homeland terrorist character. With greased back hair (did you see what I did there?) and a god awful highlight at the front, I think we can safely say this is one hair do that he’d rather us forget about.

    Now we all know there’s some guys you can look at and think “yeah I could take him”, so why not take the piss out of his hair? But this next follicle faux pas belongs to a guy that you do not want to mess with, I mean even if he’s drunk and you got a set of keys in your hand. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stands at 6ft4 and weighs in at 275lbs, so don’t mess with this fella. Though, with that being said his Afro in Be Cool is not so cool. When you got a hard man like that stood in front of you, you don’t want to get the giggles. Complete with a goatie and baseball bat The Rock really does everything he can to sell this gay bodyguard to the audience.

    (Drum roll please) Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and people that marry their horses, we are now at the end of our great hair adventure. But before I leave you all, I will depart with the best/worst of all the bad hair days. Nicolas Cage is a once great actor, Wild At Heart and Face/Off are great films (watch Ghost Rider if you want to see how bad things can get). But in 1997 something happened, something special and magic, Con Air was born. With Cage playing soon to be freed Cameron Poe he donned a hair style that not even a bald man would want. With a receding hairline, thinning on the top and a tragic mullet, this hair do really takes the cookie when it comes to bad hair days. The sad thing is, I would be willing to let Cage off the hook if it was for just one offense, but no, the man just keeps on going with his bad hair in NEXT, Ghost Rider (can you say hair piece?) and his blond mistake in Gone In 60 Seconds.

    And so we end on a real high, Cage really is the King of bad hair, not only because he has shocking hair in films but also because of his love for Elvis.

    Until next time my evil minions.

    © BRWC 2010.

  • Sweetheart, You Can’t Buy The Necessities Of Life With Cookies

    I am a huge fan of Tim Burton’s work and am very excited about Alice In Wonderland in 2010. This will be Burton and Depp’s 7th collaboration to date having previously work on Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, The Corpse Bride, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd. Johnny Depp with be this time be playing The Mad Hatter. Alice In Wonderland will be both live action and CGI effects and was rumoured to be in 3D although this does not appear to be apparent anymore. Mia Wasikowska, who recently stared in the film Defiance with Daniel Craig, will play Alice.

    Alice In Wonderland is not the only film Burton has in production or post production oh no he is producer of the animated film 9 set in a post apocalyptic universe, and director of Frankenweenie, this short film was eventually released as a bonus feature along with Vincent on The Nightmare Before Christmas DVD. And now it seems Burton will make it a feature length film, which is quite exciting. And I am sure each one of these film will poses Burton’s own unique style and themes.

    The reoccurring themes of the outsider, suburbia and gothicism run throughout Burton’s films to me this is most apparent in Edward Scissorhands (1990) for me this is one of Tim Burton’s best films to date as it truly captures the notion of true love and overcoming obstacles. The opening sequence of the film, the camera pans along the seeming sameness of suburbia, focusing on the rows of identical houses and carports. Within this suburban society there are people with unique stories and individual lives. The film focuses on Edward’s trials and tribulations in the pastel paradise known as suburbia. This suburban town is a prolonged image of perfection in a town that only knows material values; this theme is reoccurring in many of Burton’s later films. This can also establish the difference between Edward and the world we perceive as ‘normal’. The image of suburbia and Edward’s mansion are contrasted through Burton’s use of colour. Suburbia is bright and the colour pallets used to create this are pastel shades. Burton creates vivid blue skies and green lawns prolonging the image of perfection. This is contrasted with Edward’s gothic mansion, which lies dark and gloomy at the end of the suburban road – desolate and isolated from the town below. The monochromatic pallet of Edward juxtaposed with the vibrant town and characters only emphasises him as an outsider, he is seen as both visually and emotionally different from everyone else. Edward sees a romanticised view of the world and he sees beauty in the most unlikely places.

    Burton’s films are highly stylised, and these themes of isolation and emotion are key to the narrative structure of his films. Matthew Bourne has adapted this classic Tim Burton film into a stage ballet and when talking about Edward Scissorhands and why he chose to adapt this film into a ballet says. “Edward is the ultimate “outsider” expressing himself through movement rather than words with much of his appeal being physical and emotional. He is not unlike a silent movie actor and this lends itself beautifully to our unique approach”. I have been to see the ballet and it really blew me away how Edward was brought to life in a theatre.
    In my opinion this film will stand the test of time, the adaptation from film to ballet is a flawless transaction. The musical score by Danny Elfman is haunting and magical and the classic beauty and the beast narrative, Edward is seen as the outsider character the Beast, and Kim is seen as his object of that he desires his Beauty. He professes his love for Kim at the end of the film by sculpting her angelic likeness out of ice. She dances in the ice flakes Edward is shedding from the sculpture, she is the epitome of angelic beauty a virgin figure dressed in her pure white dress. The use of snow is significant in representing innocence and purity. Edward is visually different and he appears threatening because of this. The suburbanites view Edward as dark and mysterious on first meeting they use him as a commodity and take advantage of his innocence. Edwards’s world is thrown into disarray when the suburbanites turn on him and run him out of town he is forced to return to isolation once more. “You know when I brought Edward down here to live with us, I really didn’t think things through, and I didn’t think about what could happen to him. Or to us, or to the neighbourhood and now I think that maybe it might be best if he goes back up there. Because at least there he’s safe, and we’d just go back to normal.” This reference back to normality is again establishing Edward as dissimilar from the world around him.

    © BRWC 2010.