Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel, will be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on Friday 21st January, 2011.
More here.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Sunday, 14 November 2010
Friday, 12 November 2010
Growing up with Emma Watson (aka Hermione Granger)
Emma Watson looks fantastic at Harry Potter premiere
Emma Watson stuns the crowds and makes me blush at Harry Potter's Deathly Hallows world premiere last night in London. Check out more pics here.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Monday, 8 November 2010
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Friday, 29 October 2010
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Eight Ball
The team triumphed for the third straight game last night to continue our unbeaten start to the season. Last night's game was particularly noteworthy for me as I cleared up off the break. If I remember correctly, I potted a red and yellow ball off the break leaving me a choice of colour. I decided to take reds and potted a long pot into the top left with screw. That left me nicely on a shot into the middle pocket. With top spin I potted the ball and came across to the other side of the table to pot another red into the opposite middle leaving me choice of reds into either bottom corner pockets. 4 down, 4 to go.
I decided to pot the left of the two reds with screw to come off the right hand side cushion for options of two balls. I took a more difficult red that was tight on the bottom cushion but close to the pocket. Potting it with side I was able to come back up the table for my final red. The black could not be potted into the left corner - it was blocked, leaving the easy positional shot useless. So I potted my final red with top to come off the cushion and come behind the black ball. It landed perfectly but my final shot wasn't easy. A short range black half the length of the table into the top right hand pocket. I got down and played the shot quite quickly. It went in. Very pleased, my opponent was not!
I decided to pot the left of the two reds with screw to come off the right hand side cushion for options of two balls. I took a more difficult red that was tight on the bottom cushion but close to the pocket. Potting it with side I was able to come back up the table for my final red. The black could not be potted into the left corner - it was blocked, leaving the easy positional shot useless. So I potted my final red with top to come off the cushion and come behind the black ball. It landed perfectly but my final shot wasn't easy. A short range black half the length of the table into the top right hand pocket. I got down and played the shot quite quickly. It went in. Very pleased, my opponent was not!
Monday, 25 October 2010
What Hammer did for us...
The son of James Carreras – Enrique – formed a distribution company in partnership with Will Hinds in 1935. The company was called Exclusive Films and during the 1940’s it produced the occasional few films based on radio characters such as Dick Barton. The company was very much a family run affair, and in 1947 its production activities were rationalised and a new company, Hammer films, was set up.
The name came from the stage name of Exclusive’s co-owner Will Hinds, who was known as Will Hammer in the theatre. James Carreras became the managing director; Anthony Hinds (Will Hinds’ son) became a producer, and Michael, another son of James Carreras, became his assistant. The production company came about at a bad time for film in Britain, with the industry falling into recession as films were not making profit. Hammer though, survived, thanks largely to James Carreras’ idea that if a film would not make profit then it should not be made at all. With ruthless cost-cutting and a determination to treat films as commercial products rather than simply expressionist art, Hammer was able to maintain itself. Find out more here
Movies for Halloween - Ils (Them)
Not to be confused with the 1950s Gordon Douglas sci-fi Them, Ils (released in the US and UK as Them) sees loved-up couple Clementine (Olivia Bonamy) and Lucas (Michael Cohen) being harassed in their beautiful but secluded countryside home by an unseen but decidedly nasty foe. Directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud premise the couple’s ordeal with an opening sequence that sees a bickering mother and daughter stranded on a nearby road when their car breaks down. When the mother disappears the daughter frantically locks herself in the car as mud is thrown at the windows. Unbeknownst to her, there’s something lurking on the backseat. [More]
Friday, 22 October 2010
Guide to all the Friday the 13th movies
Just in time for Halloween 2010, Top10Films delves into the murky waters of the Friday The 13th franchise. As slasher killers go they don’t come more famous than renowned murderer Jason Voorhees and his many helpless victims. But how many times can we stomach the same film played over and over again (and I’m not just talking about the remake!). We’ve trawled through the entire series to rank them in order – which ones to watch and which ones to avoid. Hopefully, therefore, Jason (and his mother) won’t spoil your Halloween movie marathon! Click here for more.
Monday, 18 October 2010
Monday, 11 October 2010
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Monday, 4 October 2010
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Angelina Jolie has a mighty heart...
Daniel Stephens reviews Michael Winterbottom's intelligent adaptation of Mariane Pearl's book in A Mighty Heart.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Monday, 27 September 2010
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Monday, 20 September 2010
10 reasons Jaws might be the best film ever made
Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is one of the most financially successful films ever made. It is also loved by critics as exampled by its 100% Fresh rating on Rottentomatoes.com. Not only that, it is one of the most widely decorated films ever made, collecting three Oscars as well as ranking highly on hundreds of top films lists including being named as one of the top 100 films ever made by Total Film, the 5th best film ever made by Empire, and the 48th best film ever made by the American Film Institute.
Here’s ten reasons why it deserves all the praise it gets.
Here’s ten reasons why it deserves all the praise it gets.
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Controversy surrounds the horror film Poltergeist
Who directed Poltergeist is a question that has been raised many times between fans of the film ever since an article appeared in the L.A. Times in 1982. The article, about a set visit during principle photography, queried whether credited director Tobe Hooper was actually at the helm. On the day of the newspaper’s visit Steven Spielberg was directing some on-location shots and Hooper was nowhere to be seen. [Click here for the full story]
Friday, 17 September 2010
It wasn’t all a bed of roses between David Lean and his most famous fan Steven Spielberg
It wasn’t all a bed of roses between David Lean and his most famous fan. Chris Evans of The Independent wrote an article in 2008 entitled: “How Sir David Lean had an epic falling out with Steven Spielberg over the filming of a Conrad novel”. [More]
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Lawrence of Arabia: The film that inspired Spielberg
Steven Spielberg’s favourite film is David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. When the film was first released in 1962 Spielberg went to see it at a small theatre in Phoenix, Arizona where he immediately fell in love with the epic tale of T.E. Lawrence. However, as the director explains, he wasn’t aware of the enormity of the film’s influence on him until much later. [More]
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Spielberg's 1941 - load of crap or underappreciated gem?
In the late Seventies, Steven Spielberg was the working definition of the term boy-wonder. He already had two films under his belt that could be argued as the most important films ever: one made you never want to go into the ocean again and the other made you keep your eyes on the night skies.
So there he was pondering his next step as a film-maker; what would his next film be about?
Interesting story: while making Close Encounters of the Third Kind, fellow director Francois Truffaut spoke with him about how well Spielberg worked with kids, commenting that his next film should feature kids as a focal point. Spielberg’s response was that he was planning on doing a comedy about World War II with lots of pratfalls and explosions. Truffaut’s response: “You are the child.” I’m sure he meant it as a compliment.
But that brings us to 1941, the last Spielberg movie of the Seventies and also the most notorious film Spielberg would ever make – not only because of its huge budget and small returns, but also because of its main star.
And no, I don’t mean Treat Williams. [read more]
So there he was pondering his next step as a film-maker; what would his next film be about?
Interesting story: while making Close Encounters of the Third Kind, fellow director Francois Truffaut spoke with him about how well Spielberg worked with kids, commenting that his next film should feature kids as a focal point. Spielberg’s response was that he was planning on doing a comedy about World War II with lots of pratfalls and explosions. Truffaut’s response: “You are the child.” I’m sure he meant it as a compliment.
But that brings us to 1941, the last Spielberg movie of the Seventies and also the most notorious film Spielberg would ever make – not only because of its huge budget and small returns, but also because of its main star.
And no, I don’t mean Treat Williams. [read more]
Monday, 13 September 2010
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Best character in a Spielberg film...?
Hmm...perhaps this guy:
Or maybe him:
Check out who Top10Films went for in their Top 10 Steven Spielberg Characters
Or maybe him:
Check out who Top10Films went for in their Top 10 Steven Spielberg Characters
Celebrating 35 years of Jaws...
Click the image or click here to check out Top10Films' celebration of Steven Spielberg's work over the past 35+ years...
Friday, 10 September 2010
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
John Carpenter - Overrated or Underrated?
John Carpenter. A cult hero. A low-budget master. But he's made some really, really, really terrible films. Is he overrated or is he underrated? What's your favourite Carpenter flick?Despite the Escape From L.A's and Ghosts of Mars there's always Halloween and The Thing. Here's my top 10 John Carpenter flicks.
Monday, 6 September 2010
New pics and vids for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Warners have released new pics from the latest film - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - as well as some mini featurettes seeing the cast talk about the latest film.
Friday, 3 September 2010
New reviews up...
Top10Films has posted reviews of Little Miss Sunshine, Hamlet 2, and Joon-ho Bong's unique psychological thriller Mother.
Thursday, 12 August 2010
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Ten films to avoid before flying...
Here's an amusing and lighthearted look at the films you should avoid before flying. Or, alternatively, the films that make long haul flights in economy a bit more exciting...
Monday, 9 August 2010
Friday, 6 August 2010
...don't take a date to see these movies!
Click here to see the top 10 Anti-date films on Top10Films.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
...and the best family movie ever made is...
...not this one:
...because it came in second place to...
[Drum Roll] - now click here to find out on Top10Films
...because it came in second place to...
[Drum Roll] - now click here to find out on Top10Films
Monday, 2 August 2010
Friday, 30 July 2010
What's the best...Aussie Comedy..?
You've probably see Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. But have you seen any other Australian comedy films. I think you might have caught a little film going by the name Crocodile Dundee, you might have caught The Dish on late-night TV, but are there any others? Rodney Twelftree of Australian film production company Fernby Films tells Top10Films the ten best Australian comedy movies right here.
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Waiting For Hamlet
“Hamlet 2” is a difficult movie to discuss because it doesn’t know what it wants to be. A bit like Steve Coogan’s American accent. At times it appears to want you to care about these characters (when the brilliant Catherine Keener tells Coogan she’s leaving him for their mute lodger, for example) but since it takes hardly anything seriously you couldn’t gives two hoots. The reoccurring joke surrounding another mute character (what gripe have writers Pam Brady and Andrew Fleming got against people who just like to keep their mouth shut) getting hit in the head, knocked over, and meeting with some unsavoury accidents grates due to its pointlessness. It’s also only mildly funny the first time. Second, third, and fourth and I’m reaching for the NoDoz. So, as the name suggest, “Hamlet 2” takes everything with a pinch of salt. When it is satirising popular culture, cinema, the business of acting, it’s on to a winner. When it’s being postmodern and self-aware it’s engaging and inventive. But it doesn’t do this enough, and wavers too often on sub-plots that feel like tacked on anarchy than cohesive character progression. And, by the time the film turns into “Waiting For Guffman” you realise Christopher Guest has been here already and accomplished it so much better.
Steve Coogan is Dana Marschz (his last name becomes one of the film’s first reoccurring jokes where no one can pronounce it correctly) a drama teacher at a cash-strapped high school in Tucson, Arizona. Dana has issues. He’s become disillusioned with the acting business after a string of bit-parts and cheesy commercials. But he has an eager passion for the art and that comes out in his theatrical plays based on popular movies. When the school cuts the budget further, he finds his drama class is filled with new students wanting an easy ride. Inspired by virtue of having 20 students instead of 2, he begins preparing for his latest production – a futuristic update on the Hamlet story. When the school get wind of the script – featuring violence, sex, blasphemy, and whole heap of other ‘un-Christian’ activities, they try to shut him down. This becomes big news in the town. And, for a wannabe theatre veteran like Dana the show must go on.
There is a moment around a quarter of the way through the film when I finally felt I knew where the story was coming from. Dana is busying himself writing the new screenplay for Hamlet 2. There is an immediacy to his creative angst and you learn he has underlying regret about his relationship with his father. Coogan lets Dana’s eccentricities come out, and suddenly he’s gone from the likable one-dimensional drama teacher to someone as tragic as the titular character whose story he is updating. Suffice to say, it is Coogan who makes this film worth seeing. His faux American accent wavers at times, and mostly feels unnaturalised, but he brings the oddball, offbeat characteristic he so frequently exhibited in his British television comedies to the film with fine results.
But the film’s humour takes some getting used to. When Elizabeth Shue turns up as a nurse (and you brain says: hey, that’s Elizabeth Shue from 80s classics like “Adventures In Babysitting” and “Karate Kid”) and Dana says, “I’m sorry to be so forward, but you look a lot like my favourite actress of all time, Elisabeth Shue”, you are at once taken out of story and thrust right back into it. Its self-reflexive nature may make you feel like you’re watching a film parodying itself, but it also has a gleeful self-defeating sensibility that you rarely see in American movies.
The film falls down largely because you don’t care what happens to these characters. Despite Coogan’s spirited performance, his plight is cobbled together by sketches, mishaps, and motivation borrowed from other movies. Also it isn’t half as funny as it should be, with many skits overused or poorly conceived. If you consider the story is parts “Dangerous Minds”, parts “Footloose”, and a whole lot of “Waiting For Guffman”, but doesn’t come close the quality of any, you go a long way to summing up “Hamlet 2”. Coogan and his personification of Dana provide the film with all its highlights and there’s enough of them to give “Hamlet 2” a go, but as was exampled by its delayed and finally cancelled UK release, the film is a difficult sell.
Strange Conversation says: 5/10
Friday, 23 July 2010
Godfather Part 2 isn't one of the best sequels ever made
...well, according to Top10Films contributor Rodney Twelftree. Now as a fan of the Godfather sequel it would definitely appear on my own list of best film sequels but I love Rodney's choices because he doesn't list it. Why? Because it's different. Who wants to see another sequels top 10 with Godfather Part 2 at the top? Not I. The kids at Reddit.com do but little do they realise the whole 'Godfather Part 2 debacle' has got them talking and flocking over to Top10Films. As the editor I'm reminded to thank them for the hits and the exposure! Cheers guys! At the end of the day the top 10 list should spark debate and discussion, that's what it's there for, and this might just be the best Top 10 List on Top10Films.
Read Rodney's reasons for not listing The Godfather Part 2 here
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Inception
It has become obligatory in the blogging world to post something about "Inception" so here goes - "Inception" is Christopher Nolan's new film and it will be brilliant. I say - will be - because I haven't seen it yet. I'm avoiding reading most of the reviews because I don't want to spoil it for myself but I have read one or two. Some of have been good, most have called it a masterpiece, and some (a minority) have gone against the grain and said it hasn't lived up to expectations. One thing I've found with Nolan is this: even when he's not brilliant, he's never bad. Average Nolan is ten times as entertaining as most of Hollywood's production line output. So I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing this on the big screen in the next few days.
...oh, and while you're here I might mention a little Tom Hanks movie poll that is going on at the moment - head on over to Top10Films and cast your vote here for your favourite Tom Hanks film.
...oh, and while you're here I might mention a little Tom Hanks movie poll that is going on at the moment - head on over to Top10Films and cast your vote here for your favourite Tom Hanks film.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
You're a nice guy but I'm going to trash your lights
Nice guy Christian Bale is recorded laying into Terminator Salvation's director of photography for apparently dancing into the background of one of his scenes.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Eastwood’s dumbest character – The Gauntlet
If I was to give any credit to Clint Eastwood’s action-thriller “The Gauntlet” it would be for its poster. One of those cartoon-like depictions of a very un-cartoon-like film. Designed by the late artist Frank Fazetta, the poster depicts heroic alpha male Clint Eastwood protecting pretty blonde prostitute Sandra Locke from a haze of bullets. Fazetta’s artistry is amongst my favourite film artwork along with famed poster designer Drew Struzan. 
But other than the poster there isn’t a lot to recommend about Eastwood’s 1977 film. He’s not yet the accomplished director of “Unforgiven”, or later “Million Dollar Baby” and “Gran Torino”, and he’s lumbered with Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack’s imbecilic script that beggars belief with every gun shot – and there’s A LOT of gun shots!
It’s a fun movie – fast-paced, humorous here and there; Sandra Locke is fittingly vivacious, Clint Eastwood is assuredly macho. But it all feels like a collection of ideas without a ‘whole’ to bring it all together. And it’s decidedly stupid.
For starters, the first half of the film has Locke hiding facts from Eastwood even though there is absolutely no reason to. Even more stoopidly Eastwood keeps ringing his boss to tell him his exact whereabouts even though he knows he’s being set-up. And, for some reason, even though everyone else knows it, Eastwood can’t work out it’s his boss that’s stabbing him in the back until someone explains it to him. Could this be Eastwood’s dumbest character ever?
When the two main characters are on the run, Eastwood hands Locke his gun. She looks at it for a second. She looks at the handle, the gun barrel, the hole at the end where bullets come out and says: “What’s that?” Yes, she really asks Clint Eastwood, while staring at the gun he’s handing to her: “What’s that?” With no hint of irony, Eastwood explains: “It’s a gun.” He is explaining this to a woman who later calls him a “.45 calibre fruit”, a telling remark that alludes to the fact she not only has knowledge of what a gun is, but also recognises the different types of ammunition they use. Hey there screenwriters Butler and Shryack – you’ve got a plot hole…and it’s not the only one!
Within seconds of this moment with the gun, a car trailing the pair shoots at them, cracking the rear window. Guess what Locke says? You got it! “What’s that,” she asks, like she’s just exited the womb. A bullet has just left a BULLET HOLE in the rear window. She is holding a gun. She knows they are being pursued by very bad guys – she posed naked for one of them for goodness sake! Yet, she can’t comprehend a gun shot in anger. Blimey!
Can it get worse?
…of course it can!
Eastwood and Locke run the gauntlet in a bus they have attached steel plates to in order to protect them from bullets. The steel is cocooned around the driver’s seat where they are situated. I wondered why they hadn’t also covered the tyres since these would be easy prey for a wily cop. Then I realised why they hadn’t bothered. It’s because the stupid cops in this stupid movie don’t shoot at tyres to stop a vehicle. They shoot every other part of a bus, apart from the tyres. They also shoot the middle and back of the bus where they can plainly see no one resides. What’s even worse is how the cops are situated at either side of the road, presumably to offer an impenetrable defensive line. It doesn’t work but yet what is more disturbing is how these ‘intelligent’ officers of the law will fire bullets into a bus without a thought about the bullets either missing or shooting straight through the bus and hitting their fellow police officers on the other side. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
…and that’s not going into the whole helicopter-sniper-motorbike escape fiasco. How our intrepid protagonists survive this little encounter is beyond me. There’s a moment when Eastwood goes off-road to escape the helicopter when doing so will undoubtedly slow the bike down on uneven and unpredictable desert land But never mind – it’s only a movie (with no concept of plot logic).
The film is literally littered with improbable plot points, a complete lack of logic, and holes the size of the Grand Canyon. But I can’t say I disliked it. If trashy B-movies won Oscars, this would be a Best Film contender. With scenes like the silly but suitably overplayed stealing of the chopper from the wild hogs and Locke’s brilliantly sadistic retort to being hounded by a cop about being a prostitute, the film has enough moments of simple delight to merit a viewing…or even two.
Strange Conversation says: 5/10
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