There are many great things you can do with Lego: build spaceships; model a fortress for your hamster; stick pieces up your nose so that your mum has to take you to the hospital and then, again, inform you that you’re now 28 and it’s just not cute anymore. But, the best thing you can do with them, if you have a lot of time on your hands, is make movies.
The finest example I've seen recently of this particular micro-movie phenomenon is the Dark Knight trailer entirely constructed from themed plastic. You've probably seen it before, but it's worth watching again below.
This little bit of toy genius lead me on a time-wasting quest for the best Lego movies on the i...
Help me, dear readers, I’m in a quandary. With the so-long-awaited-I-actually-almost-died release of the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull trailer last week we’ve now seen something of almost all the big films of this summer (only Hulk’s still in hiding). And because it’s entirely possible that someone might come to my office, hold a gun to my head and tell me that I can only see one of these movies otherwise he’ll shoot me and then run over some puppies or something, I have to choose a favourite. And I don’t know which it is.
For a long, long time I thought it was The Dark Knight, no question. It’s got superb credentials, everything shown of it so far is amazing and it features two of the Batman series’ best villains (please put Catwoman in the next one). Heath Ledger’s sad death has made me anticipate a different experience, but I’m no less eager to see what work he’s done, or how Christopher Nolan has built on B...
In case you were unaware – and entire high streets full of tat conjuring new and nauseating combinations of red, chocolate, cuddly and polyester suggest this cannot be so – this Thursday is Valentines Day, the most loved and loathed of the year. Any single person knows that this is a day for couples who’ve long since lost any sexual, or intellectual, interest in each other to sit arranged in neat pairs in Italian restaurants, staring into their heart-shaped ravioli and wondering if any imminent obligatory sexual business will require them to take their socks off. All attached people know that anyone who thinks that is just bitter.
But this is a time when we can all of us, duo or solo, turn to the movies for reassurance. The coupled up among us can convince ourselves that our relationship is as worthy of a power ballad as anything in Titanic and that love conquers all, while the less loved up can be certain that there’s someone out there for everyone/it’s all a loa...
There are several reasons I lament leaving childhood and being less than two years from 30 (Whew…my therapist says the first step is admitting it). There’s the fact that being able to grow facial hair gets old really quickly; that a sofa is now something to sit on and not an impenetrable fort just waiting to be assembled; that Thundercats is clearly not, on reflection, better than Citizen Kane. But possibly most upsetting of all is the injustice that I lived in a time before Lego became amazing.
These little interlocking bits of primary-coloured plastic were my greatest pleasure as a small person and, when not making huge towers, robot guns or a big mess, I longed for the Lego Pirate Ship like Jessica Alba longs for people to take her seriously. But, as with Miss Alba’s dream, it was never going to happen. I offered to swap my younger brother for one, but his propensity for wiping snot anywhere it would adhere evidently made him a poor trade. I was to live a shipless existen...
This is completely apropos of nothing, but since I found it quite by chance last night and it made my day, I thought you might like it. Below is a clip of an early animation test that John Lasseter put together for a Disney version of Where The Wild Things Are.
Just think for a moment how amazing that could have been. I couldn't be more delighted that Spike Jonze is directing a live-action version of Maurice Sendak's childrens' classic – and from a script by Dave Eggers to boot – but the idea of one of history's greatest animation directors taking a stab at this wonderful story gets me all covered in geeky goosebumps.
The 2008 Sundance film festival was well over the halfway mark when something remarkable happened: not only did the quality of the films start picking up, but three bona fide discoveries were made. Now, the structure of the festival means that press screenings follow public screenings, so maybe we were a little late in catching up with heavy metal doc Anvil: The Story Of Anvil, which had its first shows on the opening weekend. Similarly we may have seen claustrophobic horror-thriller Donkey Punch after its midnight premiere. But World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary Winner Man On Wire truly came from nowhere, with British-born director James Marsh changing his travel plans to attend the closing-night ceremony with his superb, affecting film.
Anvil was slotted into the Spectrum strand of the festival (whatever that means), and, on paper, it sounds like a tired, post-Spinal Tap spoof, focusing on a Canadian hairdo rock band who enjoyed a brief vogue in 1984 when they played ...
It's well past the halfway mark at the Sundance film festival and what's curious is the almost total lack of buzz movies this year. By the opening weekend, Park City gossip is normally sprinkled with must-see titles, and the following Monday is when the first deals are announced. But, curiously, this year has been surprisingly quiet, and the feature films have been slow to shift – a mysterious situation, given the writers' strike and the studios' need for product. Instead, the documentaries have been leading the sales, with Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired getting an early send-off to HBO in the US and the Weinstein Company internationally. Though it features some great library footage and insightful interviews, however, this isn't a masterpiece by any means, spending too little time exploring the director's magnetism and motivation but far too long on the details of his trial for rape in the late 70s.
Another doc generating buzz is American Teen, a Real World-style quartet of ...
Helen: Well, another set of nominations, another round of blitherings from the two of us. So my first impressions are that this is very much the list that everyone expected, and that I CAN’T BELIEVE NORBIT HAS AN OSCAR NOMINATION. Admittedly it’s for make-up, and the make-up was reasonably solid, but come on! Surely there should be a rule protecting the Academy’s reputation by preventing films this bad being nominated for anything. Ahem. But well done to Rick Baker et al, obviously. So let’s start with the big one, Best Picture. Not a bad five, even if Michael Clayton stole The Assassination of Jesse James’ place and it could have gone either way between Into The Wild and Juno, but surely it’s a two-horse race between the two Western-set dramas, isn’t it? Atonement won’t win, given that it hasn’t got a matching Director nomination, and the others aren’t quite Oscary enough – or are they?
Olly Richards: So we, dear Helen, are here to discuss the BAFTA nominations and the occasionally crazy ways of said body. I feel a little silly that my big gripe with this year’s BAFTA nominations is in the special effects category, but, seriously, no Transformers?! The film wasn’t great, but you’re telling me that Spider-Man 3 – which actually took a step back from the previous film in terms of CG – and The Golden Compass were more of an achievement than that? Maybe it’s still residual fury at the Oscar Foreign Film nominations (MORONS!), but that angered me. Other than that, there are many nods I’m pleased to see. I’m particularly glad to see The Bourne Ultimatum recognised. Although, in what way was that British?
Helen O'Hara: You’re such an AV geek. But I agree on Transformers, and think that The Golden Compass should be disqualified for cynically showing nary a drop of blood during the bear fight to ensure a PG rating. But t...
Now that the Golden Globes have been demoted to an inevitably mildly depressing press conference with no celebrities and nobody dressed like a swan or similar, the inevitable question arises of whether or not the Oscars will go the same way. Currently the situation looks unclear, but certainly not hopeful and it's seeming increasingly unlikely that we'll be seeing the kind of ceremony we're used to on February 24.
Though the Golden Globes are inarguably the second biggest awards ceremony in the season calendar, there should be no illusion that they are in any way comparable to the Oscars as a prestige event, or indeed a commercial enterprise. To ditch the Golden Globes is primarily to deprive 80-something members of the Hollywood foreign press of a giant hit of their chosen narcotic: celebrity. To cancel the Oscars is to kill the biggest event in the industry's year and cost many industries many millions. But on to the financial bit in a minute.
Firstly, Hollywood at large will want this to h...
Hannibal: The Pilot Review "Agreed thought the show was absolutely terrific, looking forward to the next few episodes and seeing" TheDavidFoster Read comment
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Screen To Stage: Once "It's funny, I was a bit wary about going to see it because I really love the film, and I really want" jencat Read comment
Screen To Stage: Once "Saw this a few months ago in Dublin, right around the corner from the place they shot the opening bu" nmc1007 Read comment
Hannibal: The Pilot Review "I think you need to go a bit easier on the movies Hannibal and Red Dragon. Individually they are bot" danielthompson99 Read comment
