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  • National Youth Film Academy New Apprenticeship Scheme Launch

    National Youth Film Academy New Apprenticeship Scheme Launch

    Twenty youngsters from across the UK, aged between 16 and 25 will this week start a 9 month apprenticeship scheme with the National Youth Film Academy (NYFA). Based in Newcastle and endorsed by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), the NYFA in partnership with Westminster Kingsway College’ offers a full time 9 month course to study, create films and work with some of the industry’s top professionals. The search for the next generation of UK Academy Award® winners starts here.

    Supported by the BFI Future Film Directors Guild Trust and the Directors Guild of Great Britain, the NYFA is an organization created to locate, educate, develop and showcase the talents of exceptionally gifted young film-makers. The apprenticeship scheme gives youngsters from across the UK the opportunity to train with respected industry professionals and meet with like-minded people to write, film, produce and showcase their own film, all the time developing an industry-ready portfolio of work.

    John Strang, NYFA’s Chief Communications Officer said:-
    We are thrilled to welcome the first group of youngsters to this groundbreaking apprenticeship scheme. The UK film industry is hugely successful, and recognized throughout the world – schemes such as ours will help the next generation of filmmakers find work in a highly competitive industry, and ensure that the UK maintains its global position as a leading destination for movie making.

    Students will spend their first two months learning the basic skills to ensure a successful career in the Film Industry. With support from their tutors, they will learn the roles within the production, director, writer, camera, sound, costume, art and editing departments. Months 3-6 will be spent working in a professional environment within the NYFA offices and their media partners. Industry professionals including producers, cinematographers, editors and film directors will be on hand to give one day master classes acting as mentors to the youngsters. For the final three months of the course, the NYFA will help to find work placements within the industry – arranging meetings with industry professionals with the aim of finding work on their production slate, and help build a CV with as many professional credits as possible ensuring that all of the participants are well connected within the industry as they seek permanent employment.

  • Trishna – Review

    Trishna – Review

    Trishna is a modern take on Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d’Ubervilles from Director Michael Winterbottom set in modern day India. Luckily (or not) I have read (the majority) of the novel and I have to say I found it a bit tiresome – it couldn’t hold my attention, primarily I think because I found I had almost no sympathy with the character of Tess (renamed Trishna and played by Freida Pinto in this movie) despite the myriad of adversity set against her.

    Moving the film’s setting from 19th century rural England to modern day Rajasthan (and for a brief period Mumbai) has merit; there still exists a fairly obvious class system, changing industrial landscape, and growing education system so the story fits. I almost want to simplify this review by saying what we watch is a perfectly lovely, innocent girl’s descent into becoming the live in prostitute for the son of a wealthy Hotel businessman. For the most part that’s a fairly accurate statement, this is a tragedy, but it’s a mixed deal.

    I felt like I was watching two movies, the first half is an almost sweet story of a young girl, Trishna, and a young man, Jay, meeting each other and falling in love. She’s naive and innocent and he whisks her away, gives her a job, and ultimately moves her into the modern world of Mumbai where he’s trying to become a movie producer. It’s not all hearts and candy, it’s a little gritty and real – helped in part by the style – which I’ll go into shortly – and perhaps there’s a sense of foreboding, but this first part is relatively enjoyable. But then things get decidedly more ‘rapey’, culminating in what is probably the most disturbing lap dance sequence set to a Portishead song that’s ever been committed to film. Swiftly followed by murder and finally suicide.

    The style of the movie probably doesn’t help; it’s shot in a very flat documentary style. It’s un-romanticised and simple – it doesn’t show any stereotypical dazzling lights and colours of a ‘celluloid’ version of modern India instead it is (I imagine) an accurate picture of modern living. This realism isn’t a bad thing on it’s own, but combined with a slow pace and even slower story progression the viewer isn’t exactly glued to the screen.

    At several points large sections of time move forward quite fast in quick cut montages and when this is happening in the first act it serves to portray a story of young love. In the second half of the movie it shows the rapidity with which the character of Jay changes into a pattern of abuse against Trishna. There are moments where Frieda Pinto’s acting nails the subservient naive young woman, but largely she’s just a little too stiff and Riz Ahmed’s Jay delivers more than a few lines with a kind of stilted awkwardness as if he’s reading them from behind the camera.

    When I try to work out if I enjoyed Trishna I can’t come up with a clear answer – which probably means I didn’t really. There are moments where it dragged me in and held my attention, after a slow start the burgeoning love story of the two leads is compelling, but then there are moments where I just wanted to pick up the characters and shake them. We sit and watch as they spiral and refuse to help themselves out of a mess of their own creation. Perhaps it’s just the slow pace of the movie or the flat documentary style but I just don’t feel for either of them – but this is the problem I had with the novel. Even though this is a very freely adapted take on that novel (and I do mean VERY), I just didn’t really care for Trishna by the time she was sitting on the verge of suicide.

    As a separate mark against the film, it ends with a fade to white at that point of suicide and I’m really not a fan of slow fade out’s.

    If you’re the kind of person who goes to the cinema for a light comedy or perhaps an action adventure sex-plosion avoid this. If you like a slow paced, considered movie, exploring aspects of human tension then this is probably your thing, but even then it disappoints.

    5 out of 10 – It gets some points for the first part of the movie where the characters hadn’t become deplorable shells of human beings.

    Trishna opens March 9 in select theatres.


  • Unintended Roger Allam Double Feature: The Woman In Black & The Iron Lady

    Unintended Roger Allam Double Feature: The Woman In Black & The Iron Lady

    Final quick succession post in preparation for my new Celebrity Interview series “11 Questions with…” Who’s debut will be TOMORROW, Monday March 5th 2012! The inaugural release is going to be Elm Street 4′s Tuesday Knight! Then we’ve got Action Queen Sybil Danning, Elvira Mistress of the Dark Cassandra Petersen, Oscar winner Lee Grant, Master of Horror John Carpenter and many more coming soon! Be there or be square!

    Now onto the bitchy Britishness!

    On Monday February 27th 2012 I had a rare day off with little to do besides some errands, and taking care of my Grandfather (who had just had a heart attack the day before), so we decided to use our free time to just have little day out.

    First we went to price some piercings for Adam’s facial area. Then we went to the mall and walked around and looked at crap (lovely rainbow colored Hookah is still at Earthbound!) And, then after that we had a horrible sushi and bento lunch at Mura (if you live in or ever visit Raleigh and anyone tells you they serve good food punch them in the face and never listen to them again. The place looks gorgeous, but the food made me want to die.)

    Our bellies full to bursting with a bunch of crazy nasty we figured we should hit up the nearby cinema to cleanse our pallet. That, and, we hadn’t been to a “normal” theater in quite some time.
    We selected the Daniel Radcliffe starring, New-Hammer produce, remake of the obscure (but quite good) 1989 ghost film “The Woman in Black” for our viewing pleasure (as we enjoy Daniel Radcliffe, I wish to support anything bearing the name of Hammer films AND the original film is one of those movies that COULD stand for a remake, if done well.)

    …We should have picked something else.

    I wanted to comically make the review one sentence in the “Xanadon’t” vein, like “The Woman in Black? More like This Movie is Crap!” or “The Woman in Black? Should be called The Woman is Whack!” But, as that isn’t REALLY my style and it’s painfully unfunny, I will detail a little bit more about the film Adam has decided is so bad that we never actually watched it.

    Essentially the movie is 2 hours of a mopey looking Daniel Radcliffe running around a house being menaced by jump scares and music stings. There is an excessive dearth of dialog and back story. What little plot there is, is just cliché marrow scraped over bare, genre staple bones. The actors do their best, but have nothing to work with. Some of the set design is quite nice and the real physical location of the house is dreamy and far deserving of a place in a better film. Everything else is pure and utter garbage.

    Avoid the film at all costs. And, if you’re forced to watch it stick your fingers in your ears, have someone cover your eyes and just keep telling yourself “I can’t wait to see what Emma Watson’s post Harry Potter cinematic failure is going to be. I can’t wait to see what Emma Watson’s post Harry Potter cinematic failure is going to be. I can’t wait to see what Emma Watson’s post Harry Potter cinematic failure is going to be…” Until you pass out from the pain.

    Also, my beloved Roger Allam was in the film, in a throw away part, so small he barely even got to chew any scenery.

    After getting a lobotomy to remove that celluloid tumor from our collective minds we then continued on with our day off by purchasing a Nintendo 64 and Conker’s Bad Fur Day (yes, be envious.) At this moment we (OBVIOUSLY) decided “we need to go and see The Iron Lady right fucking now!” And, that we did.

    We tracked down the sole art house theater in the area showing and plopped ourselves into our seats for 2 hours of Meryl Streep playing a crazy old bitch!

    Despite her stance on the gays I’ve always been a fan of Margaret Thatcher as a politician, speaker and historical figure. I’m not much into that world, but when I do dive in, I like headstrong, intelligent, well spoken people of power, who know how to make tough decisions and will fight tooth and nail for what they believe in, whilst still lending the whole affair an air of grace, class and bitchiness. And, that IS Margaret Thatcher. She practically invented that.

    The film overall was good and compulsively watchable, if woefully inaccurate in regards to its subject matter. Phyllida Lloyd is much more at home with this sort of movie than say… Mamma Mia and Meryl Streep is much more at home with this sort of part than say… the character she played in Mamma Mia (although the movie would have been 800x better with some ABBA musical numbers.) I especially loved the scenes with dementia addled Thatcher and husband Denis (played with mischievous glee  by the always wonderful Jim Broadbent.) These moments that frame the major plot points of the film and drive it along were touching, funny and sincere (plus, Streep/Thatcher in these scenes reminded me of my grandmother to a degree and that touched my “awww bone.”)

    Meryl, as she has time and time again, throws herself into Margaret Thatcher with complete abandon, getting lost in the process (in the best of ways.) Her recent Oscar win for the role was entirely deserved in my opinion. Young, Old or in Between, Streep IS Thatcher in the film and despite the minor flaws the movie has on the whole, she carries it on her more than capable shoulders (and flawless accent) and then some.

    Also, was randomly (and pleasantly) surprised to find Roger Allam in the film. Once again in a semi-throwaway role (but a bit meatier than the part in TWIB) as one of Thatcher’s PR people. Hence the title of the article, Unintended Roger Allam Double Feature. See what I did there?

    The Woman in Black, 2 out of 10 Screaming Poorly Edited in Ghost Reflections

    The Iron Lady, 6 out 10 Moments of Real Life Drama Poorly Inserted into Bad Recreations

  • Uggie Is A Nintendog

    Uggie Is A Nintendog

    Nintendo has released its ad featuring The Artist dogstar, Uggie who comes face-to-face with Mario!!

    “Uggie didn’t have to sit up and beg for his role as Nintendo’s spokesdog,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo America’s executive vice-president of sales and marketing. “It’s truly our pleasure to work with a star of Uggie’s magnitude.”

    Uggie’s trainers Omar Von Muller and Sarah Clifford revealed in January that the Jack Russell will be retiring from films.  A shame.

  • Now Is Good

    Now Is Good

    A trailer for Dakota Fanning’s new film Now Is Good is here!

    Fanning plays Tessa Scott, a British girl dying of leukemia who tries to complete a list of things she wants to do before she dies.

    Now Is Good is based on a novel written by Jenny Downham, and iss scheduled for release in the UK on May 25.