Number 1 Comeback On The Official Film Chart! – The Greatest Showman enjoys a fresh surge of popularity in the UK, as it swoops back to Number 1 on the Official Film Chart – for the first time in over two years.
Notching up the highest digital tally of the week, the record-breaking film returns to the Official Film Chart Top spot for the first time since January 2019. Data from the Official Charts Company recently revealed The Greatest Showman has sold over 3.27 million copies across disc and digital, and lays claim to the most weeks on the Top 40 in Film Chart history with 109 non-consecutive weeks, 32 of which have been spent in the Top 10.
Meanwhile at Number 2 is this week’s highest new entry Saint Maud. This unnerving Horror stars Morfydd Clark as the eponymous nurse Maud, who makes it her purpose to save her terminally ill patient’s soul from eternal damnation. Flying back up the chart and landing at Number 3 is 1997 sci-fi classic The Fifth Element, whilst Godzilla: King of the Monsters (4) continues to enjoy a stint in the Top 5 ahead of the release of Godzilla vs. Kong next month.
Further down, Black Panther zooms 24 places this week to Number 6 following the release of a new 4K SteelBook edition of the film. It lands just ahead of last week’s Number 1, Bill & Ted Face The Music at 7. Finally, Trolls World Tour rebounds into the Top 10 at Number 10, its highest chart placing since early December.
This week’s Official Film Chart online show features a preview of Alec Baldwin in irish Comedy-Drama Pixie, available to Download & Keep from 15 February.
Now, as well as OfficialCharts.com, the Official Film Chart can also be found on FindAnyFilm.com – the ultimate site for Film and TV fans to discover all the legal ways to buy the entertainment they want on disc and digital formats.
The Official Film Chart Top 10 – 10th February 2021
Ahead of the UK Digital release of THE HEIRESS on March 15, 2021, director Chris Bell talks about familial horror influences, his South London ‘hooligangster’ phase and learning new lockdown skills.
How did you get the idea for THE HEIRESS?
Chris: I was in my local library when I came across a painting. The artist was a local lady. I was drawn to this eerie artwork and I knew I had to meet her. When we did meet I told her that I was going to write a film inspired by this painting. Not only that but I promised to feature her in the movie – and I did just that.
Myself, alongside Danny and Kelly Prescott, created the script for what became The Heiress. I’d arranged a meeting with producer Jezz Vernon, whom I had recently worked with on another movie. We pitched the script to him and from there he came on board.
How would you describe the film?
The Heiress is high concept horror that charts the story of four generations of a rural British family dominated by the female line. These women have been gifted an unusual supernatural patron who over the generations has become deeply possessive of them. The patron – an aggressive spirit loosely based on the ancient myth of Lilith – wants to protect them from ‘man’, but modernity has suffocated her mythology in the present generation of the female line, and we come to understand that her maternal dominance and hatred of men is now destroying the lives of the youngest women in the family.
The cast absolutely smashed the roles and the crew made the visuals exactly how we imagined the film to look like. It was a 100% team effort and I’m so proud of everyone who worked on it.
It’s a very contemporary horror film, rooted in familial dysfunction. What was the influence behind that?
Chris: My first question to myself was: “What scared me as a child?” This isn’t something I’ve spoken about before but here goes…It wasn’t a scary movie or a monster in the closet but hearing the screams from my father’s epileptic seizures. I can remember being a toddler and diving under the covers when I heard these screams. For those that have ever witnessed someone having a seizure would know how frightening they are. I knew that this would HAVE to be the subplot to this story. I also wanted to know what would happen if you told your family, doctor, priest etc. “I’m seeing things”..!
For me, it was also a family movie. By this I mean my family were involved, I had my three kids on screen and my wife running the catering. We even shot some scenes inside my mum’s house! (after we took our shoes off).
Any scary stories during filming?
Yes! We had the odd lights flicker and doors slam! All have logical explanations but as this is an interview for a horror movie I will say it was definitely ghosts
You began life as an actor. What kicked it off for you?
Chris: I was around fourteen years old in the mid to late nineties at a secondary school in London. I was passionate about Drama. My drama teacher always thought of me as the class clown who didn’t take much very seriously. For me this lesson was an escape. It was the first time I realised I could use this time as an escape from my parent’s divorce. It’s an escape skill which I carry to this day. I mean can you think of another job where you can go to work and cry, laugh and be whoever the hell you want to be for that split second? You see an actor on TV crying and you clap. As performers we see something very different.
Do you remember your first role?
Oh yes. I auditioned for a part in the school pantomime “Aladdin”. Naturally I wanted to play the lead but I was told I wasn’t good enough. I then noticed a character that I wasn’t familiar with – The Ring Genie. I asked my drama teacher if I could audition and she laughed and said “I don’t think this would be right for you dear”. I then heard someone say that this character needed to be very flamboyant and camp. It was only from watching The Birdcagethat I actually knew what these characteristics meant. I remember walking out onto that stage, arms out with the biggest swag I could do. I made Julian Clary look butch! Needless to say I got offered the part.
Besides acting, you’ve produced, directed and written a number of films and have said your South-East London upbringing inspired you to create some ‘hooligangster’ films. Can you elaborate?
Chris: It was pretty rough growing up in South East. When I look back, we got into some minor mischief but nothing to the degree of what I have portrayed on screen.
My first film, Three Stops Down From Plaistow (2013), was shot on the streets of Bermondsey. We had no money, we were just a bunch of pals playing with a camera and some crazy ideas. Little did I know back then that the film would end up on the shelves of HMV and get overdubbed in several countries.
I remember being asked at the premiere of Essex Boys: Law of Survival, which I wrote the story for, what I’d do if my wife was killed in real life like in the film. I think she was hoping I’d say “round up the troops and go after the bad guys”. I don’t think she was expecting me to say “Call the Police”.
It was fun making those films – there was also Hooligans at War – North vs South (2015) and I am Hooligan (2016), but I don’t think I’ll be returning to that genre any time soon. I think people have seen enough football associated violence and shotgun wielding hard men.
How did you get into directing?
Like many actors I watched directors at work and thought: “how hard can that be”? Little did I know that it meant being the first to arrive on set and the last to leave. I think actors make good directors because they’ve been there. They know the pressures and how to get into an actors mind and how not to f*** with their brain. I say this as it only takes a second for someone to break your character and your’re screwed. You think ghosts are scary? You should meet an actor with the hump!!!
I think it was always in me. When I look back as a child playing with my action figures, I was directing my toys. I would have a story in my mind like Action Man fights the Terminator to win April from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You may think I’m crazy but how many times have you heard a builder say that as a child he was obsessed with Lego or a chef saying how much they took to cooking as a child. Sometimes you can look back and just see things that were always there.
How are you coping with lockdown?
Chris: I’m trying to keep as busy as possible. Doing lots with the family and also working on some new material. I’ve invested in a tripod as self-tapes are now the way forward for many castings and auditions. I think Mrs Bell finally got the hump with me asking her to hold the camera every time my agent got me a casting. All I need to do now is work out how to use the bloody thing! I’ve learnt some new skills, namely ZOOM and SKYPE. Danny and I are still writing together and sharing ideas.
Finally, what’s next for you?
Well, writer and co-collaborator Danny Prescott and I have a few projects on the go. All on hold due to the pandemic but we have the words on paper. We can’t really say much other than we have a thriller in development which is inspired by true events and will be rather disturbing. Oh, and a little six part sitcom for TV.
Chris Bell’s THE HEIRESS will be available to download from all major platforms including iTunes, Amazon & SKY Box Office, from Monday 15th March, 2021.
Synopsis: After 12 years in prison, former high school football star Eddie Palmer (Justin Timberlake) returns home to put his life back together and forms an unlikely bond with Sam (Ryder Allen), an outcast boy from a troubled home. But Eddie’s past threatens to ruin his new life and family.
Amidst a myriad of competing streamers, AppleTV+ continues to establish a strong foundation for the years ahead. Their wise valuing of star-studded quality over quantity generated several successful TV shows (Ted Lasso) and films (On the Rocks) over their sturdy inaugural year. The latest in their original content library Palmer desperately reaches for heart-tugging drama within its Middle American premise. Director Fisher Stevens crafts a passable-enough melodrama, but his relatively saccharine effort barely registers an impression.
Instead of striking an authentic chord, Palmer mostly settles for Hollywood posturing. There are avenues for Cheryl Guerriero’s script to explore universally American sentiments, including ex-convicts’ struggles for redemption and the misunderstanding of gender fluidity in backward communities. These worthwhile conflicts are implemented with surface-level truths, leaving a more intimate story in the dusk for crowd-pleasing bait (Sam’s identity serves as a plot device more than a meaningfully explored character dynamic).
It doesn’t help that Stevens’ director-for-hire hand doesn’t realize the film’s quaint strengths. For a personal drama, there’s rarely time to stew with the character’s internal developments. Almost every scene drowns itself in obvious music choices, overbaking potentially-sentimental moments into maudlin mishaps. Combined with the relatively heavy-handed dramatic mechanics (Juno Temple’s talents are wasted playing a caricature of a junkie), Palmer’s tireless attempts to elicit emotion grow tiresome as the inauthentic frames add up.
It’s a frustrating misfire considering the film’s promising nucleus. Justin Timberlake and Ryder Allen are an affectionate pair as two disenfranchised souls seeking solace in each other’s company. For Timberlake, his ability to balance expressive emotions with radiating charisma morphs Palmer into an earnest everyman-type. Allen also deserves praise in his film debut, as the young actor skillfully portrays Sam’s enduring glow amidst troubling circumstances. The duo’s well-tuned frequency will leave most wishing they were serviced with a better movie.
Palmer is affable-enough to draw some fans, but its largely inauthentic delivery rang with a lingering hollowness for me.
On A Very Special Episode… WandaVision: Disney+ Talk (Spoilers!) – Another week brings us another fantastic episode of the Marvel show ‘Wandavision’. And, by now, viewers have learnt that Wanda is the one controlling the town of Westview, and that this takes place a few weeks after ‘Avengers: Endgame’. But we’re not done with the surprises just yet!
In Episode 5, titled ‘On A Very Special Episode’, Wanda and Vision struggle with caring for rapidly growing children and Vision starts to question everything around him, leading to him confronting Wanda.
Because of the amount of information this episode provided viewers with, which may be deemed as spoilers, the rest of this article will contain spoilers. If you have not caught up with ‘Wandavision’, then be warned!
The rest of this article will now focus on spoilers for Episode 5 of ‘Wandavision’.
So, in the plot description, the two sons were mentioned (Tommy and Billy). While it can be argued that their acting is flat and too scripted, this seems to be deliberate to reflect the tone of the 80’s style show that Wanda is now trying to replicate. However, it can also be used as a way to surprise viewers later on. At the beginning of the episode, it’s shown that they can age themselves up, like a character from the video game ‘The Sims’ and can do this at will. An example of this is when they find a dog and ask if they can keep it, to which Wanda and Vision say they’d have to wait until they’re ten years old to have a pet. The sons then give each other a knowing look before growing ten years. They’re also aware that Wanda can resurrect the dead (like what she’s done with Vision), so I think a major twist is coming up revolving around the kids. They know more than they’re letting on.
Another plot in this episode revolves around Vision, and his suspicion towards the town. This is highlighted in what is one of the best scenes in this episode, where he temporarily undoes Wanda’s spell on his co-worker Norm. This is when it’s revealed that he’s scared, and that Wanda is in his head. Not only was this a fantastic scene but it was also creepy; ‘Age of Ultron’ first introduced Wanda as a villain and she still has the potential to be a menacing villain.
This leads to Vision confronting Wanda about what she’s doing, even exclaiming that he’s scared and doesn’t remember his life before Westview. This is a powerful scene because it only highlights that Vision is scared and confused, he desperately wants answers which his own wife won’t give him. But it also highlights how powerful both characters are when Wanda gets confrontational too. If a battle were to break out between the two, then the town would be doomed!
And to round up this fantastic episode is the big reveal that comes knocking at the end of the episode. After Vision has confronted Wanda, their doorbell rings, to which Wanda says that she’s not encouraging that. She then answers the door…and her brother is standing there! However, this Quiksilver is played by Evan Peters.
For those unfamiliar, Evan Peters played Quiksilver in the recent ‘X-Men’ films. That were not part of the MCU.
Because Disney bought 20th Century Fox in 2019, it now allows them to merge the two properties together. But this decision is also huge for the MCU going forward and introduces new opportunities with existing projects. For example, ‘Spiderman 3’ has been confirmed to have Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield all reprising the role of the web slinger, with rumours that Willem Dafoe was seen on set too. Furthermore, ‘Doctor Strange 2’ will also focus on multiverses. And now, with the arrival of Quiksilver, it implies that Wanda’s powers are unintentionally opening the gates to these multiverses without her realizing. In the previous episode, Dr Darcy Lewis explains that the energy that Wanda is using to create this strange reality is the same type of energy that created the Big Bang. Therefore, I think this energy is creating, or opening, these gateways.
Overall, things are escalating, and ‘Wandavision’ has taken a ground-breaking turn. I only hope that Quiksilver will now remain throughout the duration of the show. And what will happen when Vision does discover what’s really going on?
Reggie (Curt Clendenin) and his cousin, Tiffany (Christy Keller) are going to a Halloween party. Tiffany is excited because she’ll finally get to meet in person she’s been talking to online for months, Oswald Gacey (Alton Clemente), but Reggie isn’t so sure that he’ll be all she hopes he will be.
At the party there are plenty of Reggie and Tiffany’s old friends and new friends and everyone is having a great time. The thing they don’t realise is that Bloody Bobby has returned as the legend of his actions get talked about every year around Halloween.
Legend of Fall Creek is a Grindhouse horror movie co-written by Jen Mathiasen and Ryan McGonagle and co-directed with McGonagle by Anthony Hall. A prequel to Black Pumpkin, an 80’s inspired horror movie where it played like a serial killer slasher akin to Halloween, Legend of Fall Creek attempts to expand on the story of Bloody Bobby, although in a different setting and a different time.
However, despite the interesting and well directed Black Pumpkin (directed by Ryan McGonagle), Legend of Fall Creek unfortunately shows the supposed franchise’s intentions as it’s just a similar story with a different cinematic feel. Also, it doesn’t nearly match the detail and feel of a Grindhouse movie as Black Pumpkin did with its retro aesthetic.
Starting off in the typical fashion of a Grindhouse movie, it starts with an intro that many would have found before movies started in that era, however this is where the similarities stop.
Because besides the occasional change in filter to remind the audience of a degrading celluloid reel, Legend of Fall Creek clearly just didn’t have the budget to follow through on its promise. This is particularly evident as the events of the movie are set in 2008.
Another problem is that it just takes so long to set up the characters that by the time of the first meaningful death, the audience may have lost all interest. Although if it were going for the Grindhouse feel with the script then it succeeds, because like Tarantino’s Death Proof, Legend of Fall Creek is boring.
